


One realm

by MaryTeea



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: AU, Demon Kings, Friendship, Multi, Only one realm, Rin and Yukio are not related, Romance, Slow Build, Strong Language, Violence, Yukio is kind of an ass, contains stuff from manga and anime, no Assiah or Gehenna, prejudice towards demons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2019-12-29 21:09:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18301991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryTeea/pseuds/MaryTeea
Summary: Since the beginning of time, there existed two realms, Assiah and Gehenna. But around 200 years ago the two realms fused together. A long war between humans and demons began, and humans were successful. After the war ended humans and demons lived in hatred, and even nowadays demons are seen as lesser beings than humans.Satan's son Rin and his friend Amaimon are promised to become new demon Kings, but becoming one is not so easy.





	1. Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic I'm publishing, so I don't know if this is good at all. But I still try!

Since the very beginning of time, our world was divided into two different realms. These realms existed as reflections of each other, and one of the most used comparisons would be a mirror. You look into a mirror, expecting to see your regular surroundings, only to gaze upon a completely different and foreign world. The world you are in, and the world inside the mirror are different but at the same time, the same. 

A good comparison too would be the two sides of the same coin. While being different, together they form a full coin, whereas a coin with one side missing is worthless. The same way, if the other realm disappeared, the remaining one would be thrown into total chaos. 

Assiah, the realm of humans and blue sky, "the pure and holy one" or "the good one" as the humans wanted it to be.

Gehenna, the realm of demons and red sky, the one humans claimed to be the source of all suffering and evil, thus deemed "the evil one".

For thousands of years, these two realms were separate, connection being quite rare. However, that all changed approximately 200 years ago. As a result of something unknown to any living being, the two realms fused together. Assiah nor Gehenna existed anymore, two realms became one. A new realm that belonged to both humans and demons was created. 

As a result, all hell broke loose. Humans, believing that the world belonged only to themselves, started the destruction of all demons with the help from the exorcists. The great war between humans and demons had begun. Hatred and violence grew and grew, dividing humans and demons more and more. Even though demons were strong, humans were even stronger. The war lasted for about 30 years, until peace was made. Without the finally made peace, all demons may have gone extinct eventually. 

Peace was made, but destruction was immeasurable. Millions of humans and demons dead, homes destroyed, little to no food left, for example. The weakest races of demons were completely wiped out. Fixing and rebuilding the world was a long process. Even though there was no more fighting, there was still hatred. 

Even though the war was over, the troubles continue to damage the lives of both humans and demons, keeping the old wounds from healing completely. It's been two centuries, but demons are still seen as pest by humans, and treated as lower beings. Even nowadays, demons are prohibited from going to certain areas, many schools don't allow demons to study there and it is very hard for a demon to get a job.

 

___________________________

 

"Rin"

. . .

"Rin, wake up"

. . . 

"Rin if you don't wake up you'll be in here until midnight in detention!"

Starled by the loud yelling Rin immediately wakes up and sits up straight.

"I'm awake!" he yelps, causing some of the class to snicker, whilst some just sigh slightly irritated, as this happens nearly every single week. The boy sitting next to Rin lets out a slight chuckle too, and Rin glares at him.

The teacher turns her attention from Rin to the other boy. "You don't have much room to laugh either Amaimon, because I don't think you are much better from Rin here. Could you please tell me what I just said, as I am quite curious to hear how much you've been listening." 

"Uhh, something about demons and jobs, right..?" 

The teacher shakes her head, looking very annoyed. Both Rin and Amaimon hold their breath nervously, anticipating her to finally snap and explode in anger. The teacher can be rather scary when she wants to be, so most students try to shut up and attempt to be as great as it's possible. 

"If you two do this even once more this week, you can surely expect to stay here three hours after school in detention, helping me with my job, that is already hard even without lazy and useless students like you!" she said so firmly that the whole class was now dead quiet. "Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" both of them said in unison.

"Good, now let's continue the lesson, shall we? We have an exam approaching, and if I don't have memory loss already, it's supposed to be 4 pages long, so some of you may fail it." she says, looking at Rin and Amaimon during the last part of her sentence. 

The rest of the lesson went pretty normally, as nothing particularly interesting happened. Rin tried concentrate at what the teacher was teaching to the students, but it was rather challenging. Most of the lesson Rin was deep in thought, and at one point began to think about his teacher. 

He felt a little bad about not attending the lesson seriously, as he knew their teacher, actual name Ala, was an extremely hardworking and respectable woman. Not every demon managed to get from the bottom to an actual teacher that teached both demons and humans. Nowadays she only teaches history at True Cross Academy's demon side though. Ala was an old being, and in her anger used to destroy human's fields and vineyards. She also used to eat children, but that was a long time ago, and she's left all that and promised to do better, and she has! 

Ala is a rather beautiful demon lady, with long, black hair and pale, almost white skin. Her eyes are the color of a thundercloud, and she wears formal clothing, fitting for a teacher. 

Ala's lesson was their class's last one of the day, so all students sattered around to go to their own places. Rin and Amaimon began to make their way towards True Cross Academy's human side, as it was a lot faster way to the right bus stop. 

"Heya, where are you two goin'? You'll end up at the maggots side y'know?" came a deep voice, making Rin jump a little, whilst Amaimon didn't really react at all. A demon, Seir, walked between the two, making Amaimon glare at him. 

"Spike head, I didn't know you could give others death curses just by lookin' at them, cool! Be careful though, it may start effecting yourself eventually." Seir laughed, making Amaimon roll his eyes. 

"So where are you two goin', y'know this is the way to that side of the academy, right? You ain't gonna go there, you're not that dumb. I hope so." 

"It's a faster way to our bus stop, so we'll get home a lot earlier." Rin said.

"Huh, you don't live in a dormitory?" Seir asked, slightly confused. 

"All the dormitories for demons are full, and were not allowed to the ones for humans, so live in our own homes." Amaimon explained. "It really sucks." Rin added. 

"Oh, well that really sucks ass." Seir said. "Wait, Spike head, aren't you the baby bro of one of the Kings?" Amaimon looked at him, then nodded. "And you, Blue, aren't you Satan's son or something? Doesn't that make you our prince?" he continued, turning his attention to Rin. "Yeah I guess. I'm suprised you haven't heard yet, that's what I am known for." Rin said.

The three walked in total silence for a little while. Rin and Amaimon walked next to each other, while Seir walked right behind them. 

All of a sudden Seir spoke up in an unnecessarily loud voice. "Are you guys datin' or somethin' you never go anywhere alo-" Seir was cut off when both Amaimon and Rin lashed at him. However Seir was rather quick and teleported out of the way. "Jeez, calm down, it was just a joke."

Rin just shook his head and spoke again. "You gonna come with us or you gonna go to your dorm?" 

"Nah, can't even if I wanted to. I'm kinda banned from going to the human's side" Seir said and shrugged.

The two looked at Seir. "The hell did you do then?" Rin asked quizzically.

"Nothin' much, just messed with them a little, that's it. Well one human got a little hurt by accident. I was nearly suspended, y'know! We'll I gotta go, see ya!" Seir said before dissapearing completely.

Rin and Amaimon continued to make their way towards the human's side. "Amai, what do you think of Seir? You always get really quiet whenever he's around." Rin asked, meeting eyes with Amaimon. 

"He's an ass." He stated simply, making Rin laugh. "C'mon, he's not so bad, actually he's kinda cool. Or actually, nah, he's a little pushy. It's a little annoying honestly." 

The two demons finally arrived to the human's side, and were given the expected welcoming. Some humans walked past them fast, as they were scared, some of them muttered something about them, and Rin was able to make out some of the things they said. "What the hell are they doing here", "fucking monsters" and "why are they here" were something he heard this time. 

Rin was one of the first demons to not hide his tail at True Cross Academy, and at some point Amaimon started to follow his lead, along with a bunch of others. Though it was common knowledge that the tail is one of demons weaknesses, Rin knows that if anyone tries to grab his tail, they'll end up getting badly burned. 

Their tails caused some of the humans (and demons unfortunately) to send them looks of despise, but they had gotten used to it.

Amaimon had shorter temper than Rin when it came to humans, so when one of them spat at them, he nearly attacked the human, and without Rin to calm him down, the human most likely would've become minced meat.

Rin was extremely relieved when they made it out of the academy without any severe trouble. Sadly that wasn't always the case.


	2. Chasing idiots

Rin and Amaimon got out of the bus and began making their way towards their own houses. The two lived on the same street, and were practically neighbours, so they always came home together. Most days they would go to either one's home and hang out, play games or eat and stuff. 

"Hey Amai, do you wanna come over? I bought like 5 bags of chips yesterday, they were on sale." Rin said, looking at Amaimon in the eyes. 

He swore he saw his friend's eyes brighten, before he visibly deflated. 

"My brother's coming back from his trip today, and he asked if I wanted to join him for dinner this evening." Amaimon explained, looking annoyed. 

"So in other words, you have to join him for dinner, right?" Rin asked, though it was more like a statement than a question. Amaimon nodded at that. 

Rin knew Amaimon's big brother Mephisto better than Amaimon probably thought, so he understood that even though he said something as if it was a mere suggestion, in reality it was a demand. He never really knew what to make think about the man. Mephisto definitely was a recognizable man, with his clownlike looks and over the top personality making him well known. The demon king of time and space was quite interesting. 

"Well, I guess there's no choise, good luck with that, then." Rin shrugged and started to head towards his own house, waving Amaimon a goodbye. Amaimon waved back and went to his house.

Amaimon used to live in Mephisto's mansion, but he got tired of his brother intentionally annoying him, and there being visitors all the time, so he never had any peace. He finally had enough, and confronted his brother about it. Mephisto offered to buy Amaimon his own house. He ended up moving to a house close to Rin's, even though he could've afforded a nicer and bigger house. He told Rin it was a complete coincidence, when in reality he had planned it that way all along.

Rin on the other hand, couldn't afford a very special kind of a house for himself, which suprised many. Yes, he was Satan's, the demon god's son, but his father never had any role in his life. Rin has actually met Satan just a couple of times. He was raised by his father's servants, who did take very good of him. Still, he never had any parents, so as a child it upset him when he never could relate to other children. 

Satan was still technically the ruler of all demons, but he never really did anything. Especially after Rin was born, he disappeared almost completely, only to show himself in public if something big and important was happening. 

Amaimon opened the door to his house, not bothering to take his shoes off. Starting to head towards his living room, he heard something rustle under his boots. Looking down he saw a pink envelope with golden stars and white hearts decorating it. Immediately knowing who it was from, he picked it up and thought of burning it then and there, but deciding against it. He opened the envelope and read it with a frown on his face.

 

To my little brother Amaimon ☆

I hope you have decided to join me for dinner, but I doubt you would refuse. I have to apologise, as I said I would be back at my mansion this night. Something came up however, so I won't be back until around 2 o'clock tomorrow. ♡

But worry not! Our dinner is still going to happen, but we are going to have it tomorrow instead of today.

About the dinner, actually... I would greatly appreciate if you asked him to accompany us. 

Your dearest big brother, Mephisto Pheles ☆

 

Amaimon stared blankly at the letter before crumbling it and throwing it to join the pile consisting of letters and envelopes his brother had sent him. Some were still unopened. 

Amaimon laid down onto his sofa and took a candy from his pocket, putting it into his mouth. He hated to admit it, but Mephisto had beat him. He knew that Amaimon wouldn't turn down an invotation, if it had something to do with Rin. 

"I'll ask him about it tomorrow..." he mumbled, before taking an another piece of candy.

 

_______________________

 

Rin went inside and started to do his homework, as he didn't want to waste anymore time in detention. He quickly got tired of it though, and finished it all as fast as possible. It was all probably half-assed, but he couldn't care less. He spent rest of the evening reading manga and making lunch. Eating his ramen he looked at the clock. It showed 9:33 p.m. Rin was already exhausted, and decided to go straight to bed after showering. He made sure to but on his alarm clock, so he wouldn't run late. 

He woke up to his alarm clock ringing next to his ear, and he knocked it off the nightstand to make it shut up. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, before forcing himself to get out of bed. He went to the bathroom, trying to tidy up a little.

Rin looked into the mirror, and meeting his eyes with his own bright blue eyes. Instead of having black irises, his own were red, giving him a rather demonic look. He could see why some were afraid of him. Rin picked up a comb to brush his hair and shape it a little. His hair looked black, but depending on how the light hits it, you can see it's actually slightly blue.

Going to the kitchen to eat breakfast, he chose an fresh apple, finishing it quickly. He went to dress up, picking up a band T-shirt and jeans to wear. Unlike Amaimon, Rin never bothered to express him being a demon through his clothing, so he was always very casual. As if anyone would doubt that he's a demon. 

Hearing a knock on his door, Rin went to open it, already knowing who it was.

"Oh, you've already up? This is unusual, maybe the universe is coming to an end?" Amaimon said, grinning slightly. He had picked up to show up on Rin's door every morning, to make sure he wasn't asleep. Which was almost always...

"Shut up, Amai..." Rin said, acting annoyed, but his smile revealed him.

"Yeah yeah, sorry. Can I come in? There doesn't seem to be any hurry today."

Rin sighed "Come ahead, there's not much to do here, though. Should we go to buy more games today, after school's over?"

"Sure, sounds good to me." Amaimon replied, going inside. 

The two spend a little time talking and messing around before it was time to go to school. They left Rin's house together, and Rin made sure to lock the door properly.

 

________________________

 

Amaimon and Rin were walking over to the bus stop, stopping to wait for chance to cross the road. When the last car passed and the another one, a black, expensive looking car with different kinds of neon colored patterns painted in the sides and on the front, was coming pretty war away, the two demons started to cross the road. The upcoming car had generic techno music blasting at full volume, so even if it was far away you could still hear it clearly.

All of a sudden in the middle of crossing the road, Rin could hear the sound of a car speeding and obnoxious techno music quickly becoming louder. 

"Watch out!" Rin yelled out grabbing Amaimon's hand and jumping forward out of the car's way. Amaimon yelped in suprise at the sudden movement, and the two flew in the air for a moment before falling to the ground. Amaimon managed to stay standing, but Rin fell on his knees, sliding on top of the sidewalk feeling the little rocks scratching his legs and hands. 

"There ya go, next time you'll be ran over!"  
"See ya later, weirdos!" the youngsters inside the car yelled, their voices barely audible against the music. Rin and Amaimon looked after them as they drove away laughing. 

"Are you alright?" Amaimon asked offering his hand to Rin, who took it and stood up. His palms and knees were bloody and the wounds filled with gravel. His jeans had new holes on the place of his knees, and some of the blood had colored the blue fabric red. The wounds were going to heal soon, the thing he was more concerned about were his jeans. His jeans wouldn't get fixed no matter what, and they were brand new, and quite expensive too. 

"Hey, Amai..."

"What?"

"Do you wanna go after them? I think we should definitely teach those assholes a lesson." Rin said, clearly angry. Amaimon was rather suprised at that, as Rin usually was against attacking humans (not because he liked them, but because they would get into some big trouble if they hurt a human). Amaimon got very excited, though he kept his usual bored expression.

Rin noticed his friend's eyes lighten up, so he was happy he was going to join the fun. Amaimon was pretty much always looking bored, but Rins had developed a skill to read the little changes in his expression, so he usually knew what his friend was really feeling. 

"Of cource I'll come, but I'm quite suprised, you're usually calmer at situations like these." Amaimon said, looking Rin right in the eyes, trying to figure out what was going trough his mind.

"Well yeah, but they ruined my poor jeans! And they were brand new, too! Do you think I'll just let shit like this slide?" Rin said already leaving to go after them.

"Well most of the time you do..." Amaimon muttered mostly to himself, but smiling slightly.

Rin smiled at Amaimon's reaction and grabbed his arm. Together they began running. The two ran, going after the car, as it was easy to follow them, taking that the music was audible from far away. Some people looked at them like they were some kind of hooligans, desiring to cause problems. You couldn't blame them though, as demons were a lot faster than humans, especially ones as powerful as Rin and Amaimon were, so it must be a pretty scary sight to see two angry demons running at top speed.

The two arrived to a busy shopping street, people filling all the space and blocking all of the sidewalk.

"Damnit, it's literally impossible to get trough that." Rin mumbled, his amount of annoyance rising. He felt a light tug on his side. He turned his head to look what Amaimon had to say. 

Amaimon pointed at the top of a building they were next to without saying anything. It took a while for Rin to realise what he was implying, but after he did realise, he decided that it wasn't a bad idea. 

"Well, shall we go, we got nothing to lose." Rin said, before they jumped up together. In just a little moment the two had climbed to the top of the three-story building, using the balconies to get up. They could hear some talking, anxious yelling and even some panicked screams from below, all what Rin already expected.

Rin realised that from this height they could almost see where the black car was driving, which was actually a rather good thing, because the sounds of heavy traffic were drowning out some of the car's music. 

"Let's go." Amaimon said, pointing to the car's direction. 

"Yeah, we should hurry before we lose it."

The two started running towards the edge of the building, before jumping. The distance was quite large. A normal human wouldn't stand a chance of making it to the other side, but neither Rin nor Amaimon were humans, and wouldn't tolerate being called one either. 

They both jumped, Rin going just a few steps earlier than Amaimon. Rin felt himself flying trough the air, hearing the wind blow and the screams of the people below. He truly hoped anyone wouldn't get the wrong idea, and call the police on them. In the worst case someone might contact an exorcist to get rid of them, which would cause unnecessary hassle. 

Rin realised he might have gone overboard in the height of his jump, as  
he saw the place he was aiming to land on far below him. It almost felt as if he was a bird, looking down on people, down on humans, and it was a great feeling. Truthfully it was something he hoped he would be able to do. 

Rin didn't actually hate all humans. And unlike a lot of the demons he knew, he definitely didn't want to massacre the human race. He liked to believe that maybe somewhere in the world there are some humans that are okay people. 

Rin landed successfully on the sloping roof, but Amaimon who landed behind him, started to slide backwards. Rin reacted quickly, reaching for Amaimon's hand and grabbing it, before he managed to fall off the ledge. 

"Thanks." Amaimon said, glancing down to the ground.

"It's nothing, let's go." 

The demons began running again, trying their best to keep their attention in the car. 

"Damn, I wish paying attention in school was this easy..." Rin thought, chuckling slightly by himself. 

The two kept jumping and climbing from building to another, trying to not stand out. It was probably dumb to think they wouldn't get noticed, because multiple people were most likely recording a video of them on their phones. At worst case, their little adventure would become an internet sensation. 

After quite many buildings Rin noticed that around the roof of one of the buildings was flying an unusual amount of Coal Tar. He found himself becoming very curious to know why they were there, so he was really annoyed that he couldn't go figure that out. 

But then, as if his wishes had been answered, the car turned left. Now they had to go to the Coal Tar infested roof. A small chuckle escaped his lips as he signaled Amaimon to follow him. Amaimon gave him a questioning look. 

Now extremely excited, Rin sped up, causing Amaimon to start getting behind him. Approaching the ledge, Rin made a jump for it, landing successfully. When looked around, he was... disappointed. 

The roof was filled with people dressed in bikinis and swimsuits. There was pop music playing all around, how he had not heard it, he didn't know. Many were gathered around a bar, and in the middle of it all was a big pool. 

"A pool party..." Rin sighed, his movement stopping compeletely. At first glance the party looked normal, so he didn't understand why so much Coal Tar was flying trough the air. Upon closer inspection though, he figured out exactly why.

The party wasn't a regular fun and innocent pool party thrown by bored teens, not at all. It was, frankly said, everything else than innocent. Everybody was batshit drunk out of their minds, high, or drugged. Looking down Rin saw a syringe next to his feet. He wrinkled his nose at it. He couldn't understand why some people seeked fun and pleasure from using drugs that damage your mind and body.

When an irritated looking Amaimon finally made it to the building where the party was being held, he saw Rin who was already continuing their chase. His frown deepened even more at that. He gazed at the humans having a pool party, and what met his eyes was kinda suprising, yet expected.

Almost everyone was staring at them in shock or looking scared shitless, and it was dead quiet. Then somebody went and turned off the music, so it was all almost comical. Amaimon looked back at Rin who also had slowed down, and was now looking at the humans looking confuced.

Amaimon was ready to go to Rin when all of a sudden he saw something that captured his interest. One table was filled with different kinds of delicious sweets and snacks. There was a cheesecake, chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes, candy, pizza and french fries alongside many others. 

After considering his options, Amaimon headed towards the table. 

"Wha- Amai, where are you go-" Rin said feeling confused, until he saw the food table, and he undersood. He sighed loudly, making Amaimon stop midway. The green haired demon gave Rin a side eye glance.

"Hey, don't give me that look!" Rin called out, but right after sighing. "Fine fine, go ahead, but fast, before they get away!"

Instantly Amaimon ran towards the table, picking up as much food as possible. Most of it he was holding in his arms, but he had also stuffed some of it into his mouth. 

One of the girls, dressed up in a pink lace swimsuit, cried out "Please don't come closer you weirdo, s-stay away! No one w-want's you here, so leave!!!" 

A blonde man came to support the girl, going to stand in front of her. "Go to hell you demons, or we're gonna beat you to a pulp. Understood?" 

Rin, who was now sitting on the railing, laughed loudly. "Haha, sure you are."

Amaimon too chuckled lightly. "Pwhey, 'm not 'rying thwoh phurth anyoneh." He said mouth still full.

"Let's go, Amai, we're beginning to sight of them." 

"Ohh, okhey." Amaimon said, following after Rin, now much more energetic. 

 

_________________________

 

"Haha, good job Arata-kun, you really did a number on those losers!" Said a red haired young man, wearing an oversized black hoodie. 

"Are you sure it was a good idea, Danno-san? Haku said that he saw them following us a while back." a tall, but scrawny boy said, gazing at a short yet quite muscular boy, who nodded. 

"Shut up, Takehisa-kun, you really think they would try to fight us? It would be two against four." Arata-kun said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, don't be such a chicken, if they are dumb enough to challenge us, we'll just beat them up. Those suckers won't even know what hit 'em!" Danno san said, playfully nudging his friends side.

"I guess you're right..." Takehisa sighed. He still couldn't shake off the feeling, but choose to trust their boss's judgement. 

"Oh, you're gonna beat us up, huh? I'm intrigued, show me what you can do!" Said a voice from above. The four thugs stiffened and looked up. The sun was shining from behind, so it was hard to see. They could still make out two forms against the purple sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that the sky is purple in this realm, you can probably guess why.


	3. Two against four

After around 30 minutes of chasing the car, it finally turned to a dark alley and stopped moving. 20 minutes into the chase the men in the car turned of the music, making it harder to follow. Rin and Amaimon landed to the roof of a building next to the alley. Rin looked down and saw four young men exit the car.   
  
They were wearing dark, oversized hoodies, and they all had dyed, odd looking haircuts. Rin saw blonde, red and white hair for example. He concluded that they were basic thugs, that tried to rebel by doing things out of the norm.  
  
_Such ridiculous haircuts..._ Rin thought, before realising that his dark blue, almost black hair wasn't too common either. He glanced at Amaimon, realising that his friend's poison green colored hair with a spike in the middle was a very odd looking haircut too. He was so used to it now, that he didn't really pay any attention to it. It was kind of cute, Rin finally decided.  
  
The boys looked to be around 16-17 years old, so they a few years older than Rin and Amaimon, who were both 15.  
  
Rin hopped to stand on the railing, and concentrated on listening to their speech. He doubted that the humans had anything interesting to say, but one can always hope.  
  
At first they just chatted about something boring and useless, before the conversation became interesting.  
  
"Shut up, Takehisa-kun, you really think they would try to fight us? It would be two against four." a deep, raspy voice said, seemingly aiming the words to a scrawny, tall boy. A small laugh escaped his lips, as the human really seemed to think they were safe.  
  
"What a joke, we would still defeat them even if it was us against fourteen..." Amaimon muttered, looking a little offended. You couldn't blame him for it though, as for someone like Amaimon being called weak by humans was a great offence.  
  
"Yeah, don't be such a chicken, if they are dumb enough to challenge us, we'll just beat them up. Those suckers won't even know what hit 'em!" someone else said. This time the voice was higher pitched.  
  
Rin smiled and shook his head.  _How clueless._  
  
"Oh, you're gonna beat us up, huh? I'm intrigued, show me what you can do!" Rin yelled, and watched in amusement how the expressions of the humans transformed into ones of horror.   
  
He glanced at Amaimon to see him glare down at the humans with a look that could've been called murderous. Rin placed a hand on the green haired demon's shoulder.  
  
"Hey Amai, calm down. We're not here to kill them, we're here to teach them a lesson, alright?" he said, making sure to say it firmly. He still had a kind smile on his face though.  
  
Amaimon looked Rin in the eyes, before looking away and mumbling a response. "...fine"   
  
"Awesome! Now let's get fighting!" Rin chuckled, motioning Amaimon that they were going to go down now.  
  
Rin jumped of the ledge and climbed down the building in a matter of seconds. He could hear Amaimon landing behind him, so he turned his attention to the humans before him. The youngsters were frozen in place, so pale that they were comperable to ghosts.   
  
"I happened to hear that you didn't actually expect us to come here, but oh boy, look at us!" Rin chirped, taking a few steps forward. This seemed to scare the four in front of him, as they backed away quickly.   
  
"You know what kind of a struggle you put us through? Following a car for this long isn't easy y'know." Rin said.  
  
At that, one of the humans stepped forward, looking confident. He looked like he was the strongest one, so Rin concluded that he must be the leader. "What the hell are you doing here? You seriously think that you're strong enough to defeat us? You must be all kinds of stupid! If you haven't noticed, it's four against two." the man in front of them said.  
  
"Heh, I don't think a human has the right to call us stupid, right Rin?" Amaimon chuckled, stepping forward.  
  
"True."  
  
"This won't even be a real fight, you must understand that." the leader said, now looking less assured.  
  
"You're right, this won't be an actual fight." Rin said, shrugging.  
  
"You just have the roles mixed up." Amaimon continued.  
  
The leader's eyes widened at that, and he seemed to hesitate for a split second, before regaining his confidence. He turned to his friends, and spoke:  
  
"Don't let these bastards get to you! They're all talk, we won't lose to them!"   
  
The rest of the four looked at each other, and then they moved forward to stand alongside the man in front of him. Now they were all standing together side by side, with a determined look on their faces. If somebody looked at them without paying much attention, they could've thought that the four had absolutely no fear in them, but that wasn't really the case.  
  
Him being a demon and all, Rin sensed some fear in them, but the amount was many times smaller than before. He had to admit that the leader was convincing, making his friends gain so much confidence with just a few words. Rin couldn't help but smile, seeing the fight forming before their eyes.  
  
_Maybe this will be more fun than I thought!_  
  
"Don't worry, we're not here to kill you, we'll just give you a little lesson about messing with the wrong people!" Rin laughed.  
  
There was a short moment of growing tension, and Rin concidered asking Amaimon if he wanted to attack first, when all of a sudden the humans charged towards them.   
  
Two of them attacked Rin, and the other two went for Amaimon. Rin sighed, as he was very disappointed. He had expected his opponents to be stronger. The tall but skinny one tried to punch Rin, while the other tried to tackle him by going behind him.  
  
His opponents were so weak, that he didn't really have to try. He was holding back, and understood that pretending to be weak made the humans fight better, as they kept gaining confidence. Rin let one of the punches hit his chest, and he let out a pained grunt.  
  
He kept fighting for a while, and at one point he glanced at Amaimon. He saw that his friend was fighting the stronger two, which he had expected. In every fight they got into, the stronger went to fight Amaimon, and Rin was left with the weaklings. He guessed it was because unlike Rin, who wore casual, basic clothing, Amaimon dressed up like an actual powerful demon. You couldn't blame them though, as even Rin had to admit that he could think of Amaimon being the stronger one.  
  
It irritated Rin to see Amaimon actually having a fun time fighting, so he decided he was going to beat his current opponents and then he would join his friend. Rin began taking the fight more seriously, as now instead of just dodging and blocking, he attacked too.  
  
Everything was going well, as it looked like Rin's opponents would give up soon, when all of a sudden the scrawny human threw a punch towards Rin's face, his eyes flaming in anger.  
  
Reacting immediately, Rin stopped the fist right before it reached his face, and then he punched the boy, his fist hitting the middle of his face. The strenght of the impact sent the boy flying backwards, and he fell to the ground.   
  
Rin looked as the thug's nose began bleeding furiously.   
  
_Fuck, that's a broken nose for sure._  
  
Everyone had stopped fighting, including the ones opposing Amaimon. All of them looked as the boy on the ground tried to crawl away from Rin, whimpering from the pain. The front of his hoodie was already colored red by the blood.  
  
"You asshole! I'm gonna kill you!" Rin's remaining opponent yelled, taking out... a knife? Rin was so taken aback by this, so he didn't have time to react before the human charged towards him. The knife cut his side, and the wound began to bleed immediately.  
  
It seemed like the whole planet went quiet at this, as nobody made a sound.  
  
"You..." Rin growled, before the blue flames took over. Rin was absolutely enraged, glaring at the human who just slashed him with a knife.  
  
_How dare he?_  
  
Rin grabbed the boy by the throat, lifting him off the ground.   
  
"How-how dare you?! You stabbed me?! Hasn't anyone told you that you don't actually attack with a deadly weapon in a fight meant to be fought with fists?!" Rin raged, tightening his hold around the humans neck.  
  
"I-I'm s-sorry, pl-please don't k-kill me..." the boy chocked out, teary-eyed.  
  
  
  
. . . . . .  
  
  
  
"Taste this, you demon!"   
  
Amaimon dodged the kick that was meant to hit him in the stomach easily, and came to a decision of returning the attack. He kicked his opponent in the stomach, making him gasp in pain.  
  
This is how the most of the fight continued, overly easy and boring. The humans managed to land only a few weak blows.   
  
_I should break someone's arm, just to see if they'll give up immediately._  
  
In the middle of it all he glanced at Rin, to see he had once again ended up with the weaker ones. Amaimon felt a bit of pity for him, when he saw him holding back so much that the fight was as challenging as riding a bike with training wheels.   
  
After fighting alongside Rin tens of times, he'd realised that when fighting someone way below him in terms of ability and power, Rin would pretend to be slowly defeated, to give his opponent a boost of determination, so they'd fight better.  
  
There wasn't really anything he gained from it, it was purely for entertaiment.   
  
_Jeez, how long are we gonna mess around here?_ Amaimon thought, sighing heavily.  
  
The fight went on like that, nothing interesting happening. Amaimon thought that the fight would never end, until he happened to glance at Rin at the exact right time.   
  
The tall boy tried to attack Rin, who punched him in the face in return. Amaimon watched in fascination how the weakling fell to the ground, his nose bleeding uncontrollably. He tried to crawl away from Rin desperately.  
  
"Wow, his nose is probably in tiny fragments." Amaimon stated, and watched in amusement how his opponents reacted after saying that. Fair to say, they looked like someone just committed murder.  
  
Returning his attention to the scene in front of him, he saw as Rin's remaining opponent reach for something in his pocket, and saw how the sunlight reflected of it. Realising what it was, Amaimon opened his mouth to warn Rin, but it was too late.  
  
With a knife in hand, the boy charged towards Rin, slicing his side with the blade. The wound was deeper than Amaimon thought it would be, and blood came pouring out immediately.  
  
He watched as Rin burst into blue flames. At first the fire covered his whole body, before he managed to get it under control. Now the blue flames formed two horns on his head, and the tip of his tail was on fire too.  
  
Unlike many thought based on Rin's appearance, he was actually a very powerful demon. Many weren't even aware that Rin was Satan's only son and alongside him, he was the only one who possessed the blue flames. Of course pretty much everyone knew that Satan had a son, and what he was capable of, but most didn't know what he looked like. It was because Rin had always kept a low profile.  
  
Amaimon stared in awe at Rin's form. Even though he had seen it multiple times, it never failed to amaze him.   
  
Rin's hair was now a lot more blue than usually, and the red in his eyes seemed to be glowing. He had also taken notice, that his eyes flowed, like they were fire too.   
  
Rin grabbed the poor boy by the throat, and appeared to be choking him slightly.  
  
_I hope he follows his own advice now._  
  
"How-how dare you?! You stabbed me?! Hasn't anyone told you that you don't actually attack with a deadly weapon in a fight meant to be fought with fists?!" Rin foamed, and for a good reason. He definitely had a point, wasn't bringing a knife into a quarrel like this cheating?  
  
The boy tried to say something, but Amaimon was too far from him to hear it clearly. He appeared to be crying, as he could see the wetness in his eyes.  
  
_Pathetic..._  
  
Rin held the boy like that for a couple seconds more, before calming down enough to think rationally. That time of barely breathing was enough to turn him slightly purple, apparently.  
  
Rin threw the boy, who flew aback a few meters before landing harshly next to the boy whose nose was bleeding. He was breathing very heavily, visibly shaking and eyes teary.   
  
One of the two humans who were unharmed ran to the boy, asking if he was alright. Amaimon realised that his opponents had walked away from them at some point.   
  
It was quite a scene, two boys on the ground, one with a bleeding, broken nose and the other one struggling to catch his breath, bruises gradually forming on his neck, one doing his best to help his friends and only one standing, face pale and eyes wide.  
  
Amaimon hopped to stand next to Rin, glancing at the wound, looking worried.  
  
"Are you alright? That wound's so deep it won't close yet." Amaimon asked Rin, glaring at the boy who stabbed him.  
  
"Don't worry Amai, let's concentrate to this now." he said firmly, before his gaze softened and a small smile rose to his lips. "I'm fine, let's finish this now, then we can take care of the wound, okay?"  
  
This for some reason that made Amaimon's heart skip a beat, and he felt his cheeks getting hotter. He turned his face away from Rin's, staying quiet for a moment, before muttering an answer.  
  
"...whatever"  
  
Rin chuckled at that, and the two turned their attention to the humans before them.  
  
"Who- Who the hell are you?" the leader asked, unable to keep his voice steady.  
  
"Oh right, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. Well, I guess I'll go first. I'm Amaimon, the little brother of Mephisto Pheles, the demon king of time and space. But don't you even dare to compare me to him, or I'll rip out your tongue."   
  
"My name is Rin, there's not really anything else to say." Rin shrugged. Amaimon gave him a side eyed look.  
  
"Ugh, fine fine... Well actually I'm also known for being Satan's son, but please don't associate me with him."  
  
That looked like it worked, as now all four, including the unharmed two looked like they were going to pass out any moment.  
  
"W-what do you want from us?" the one with a likely broken nose asked.  
  
"Nothing really, we're here to teach you guys a lesson, to not mess with the wrong people." Rin asnwered, glaring at the humans.  
  
"Well isn't this enough? Can't you just let us go, we promise to never bother you again." the leader begged, hands shaking slightly.  
  
_Are they too scared to go to the police already_ , _or will they immediately tell about us?_ _Can we risk it?_  Amaimon thought, glancing at Rin, who had a calculating look on his face, so he was most likely thinking about the same thing.  
  
Even though Rin practically never paid any attention to anything in school, he could still make good and understandable decisions. That was something that had drawn Amaimon to him.  
  
"Sure, you're free to go," Rin finally said. "But mess with us again, and we'll show zero mercy. Also don't think about telling anyone about this."  
  
The humans nodded and then started to get away as soon as possible. The injured ones had to be supported by the unharmed ones, but they still managed to get to the car rather fast. Soon enough Rin and Amaimon looked as the four sped away with the black car, leaving only a cloud of dust behind them.  
  
"Do you believe that we'll ever hear from those guys again?" Amaimon finally asked after a moment of silence.  
  
"Yeah, I think so. We gave them quite a scare, so I doubt they'll come after us."  
  
Amaimon nodded, satisfied with the answer. He was about to ask what they were going to do now, as they were very late for school, when all of a sudden Rin fell to the ground, unconscious.  
  
"Rin!"  
  
  
  
. . . . . .  
  
  
  
  
"Rin, are you alright?"  
  
Rin opened his eyes, but the brightness of the sun made him close them again immediately. He felt that he was laying on his back. He tried to open his eyes again, and the first thing he saw was Amaimon hunched over him slightly.  
  
Rin shot up immediatly, making Amaimon jump a little. He had been laying on a bench, and realised they weren't in the alley anymore.   
  
"Ugh, what the hell happened? he groaned.  
  
"You passed out right after the fight, probably from blood loss or something."  
  
"That can't be, I'm not so weak that being sliced with a knife is enough to take me down." Rin muttered. He thought about what could've happened, and he came up with an idea.  
  
"Maybe the knife was blessed?"  
  
"Could be, that would explain how he attacked so carelessly, believing that it was enough to defeat you." Amaimon replied, looking deep in thought too.  
  
Rin had some other questions, but decided not to dwell on it.  
  
"What's the time now?" Rin asked.  
  
"Around half past nine, we're missing our second lesson now."  
  
Rin sighed, shaking his head. "What should we do now, is there a point to go to school now when our current lesson will be pretty much over by the time we get there?"  
  
Amaimon just hummed in response.  
  
"How about we go to the store, all this fighting made me hungry." Rin suggested, slowly standing up.  
  
Amaimon's eyes lit up at that, and he practically jumped up from the bench. Rin smiled at that, grabbing Amaimon's hand and starting to drag him with him.   
  
  
  
. . . . . .   
  
  
  
  
Rin and Amaimon arrived to the store shortly after leaving the alley. The store, owned by an old demon, was pretty much the only place Amaimon and Rin went to. It was a place were almost every customer was a demon, so they always felt welcomed.  
  
Bune, the demon who owned the store always let everyone come there, including humans. He was very kind, but if anyone harassed somebody else, he could be very intimidating.  
  
Rin didn't have much money with him, and neither did Amaimon, so they had to buy the cheapest stuff. Rin bought a juice box and a chocolate bar, and Amaimon went straight to the candy isle. He took a couple lollipops, one chocolate bar, and the cheapest possible bag of potato chips he could find.  
  
When the two had finally grabbed everything they wanted, they went to the cashier. It wasn't a big surprise when the one working as a cashier was Bune himself.  
  
For some reason, Bune worked as a cashier in his own store. He had once told them that it was because he "wanted to get to know his customers" or something along those lines.  
  
"Oh, good morning Rin, Amaimon!" Bune said cheerfully. "You haven't been here in two days."

 _Of course you counted..._ Rin thought to himself.  
  
"Hi Bune, nice to see you!" Rin smiled, but Amaimon stayed quiet.  
  
"Haha, I see you're as social as ever, Amaimon." Bune chirped. "Aren't you two meant to be in school now? You better not be slacking off, or I won't sell you these." he said, winking at the last part of his sentence.  
  
"Well yeah, but something came up, so we're kinda late" Rin said, scratching the back of his neck.  
  
"Oh, may I ask what?"   
  
This time Amaimon joined the conversation. "Nothing really, some humans tried to intimidate us, so we gave them a little lesson."  
  
"Oh, I see. I understand that it's none of my business, but I genuinely wish that you avoid getting into unnecessary trouble. You probably know this already, but something you do in your youth can ruin your entire future." Bune said, much more serious now.  
  
"Yeah we know, we promise we'll try." Rin said.  
  
"Well, off you go! I don't want to hear about you two skipping school today, so go ahead!" Bune said, back to his usual positive self.  
  
"Yeah yeah, thank you Bune for this, I don't know what we would do without you!" Rin said, smiling from ear to ear.  
  
The two hot out of the store, and began heading to the direction of their school. Rin was drinking his pear juice, and Amaimon was eating the chips he bought. He complained how they were too salty and stale, to which Rin replied by calling Amaimon stupid for buying the cheapest kind.  
  
After around 15 minutes Rin and Amaimon were standing before the gate of the True Cross Academy. Amaimon, who had already finished the chips took out a lollipop. It was small, yellow and heart-shaped, and Rin noticed that the wrapper had a picture of some kind of a white hippo, that had a long tail, and it was standing on two legs.  
  
_I swear I've seen that thing somewhere._ Rin thought.  
  
"Well, should we go inside, or we'll be late for our third class." Rin said, looking at the huge building in front of them. Even though he had been inside the building countless times, it never failed to amaze him.   
  
"By the way, what are the two lessons we missed?" Rin asked, as it popped up in his mind.  
  
"Hold up a second..." Amaimon answered, taking out their schedule. He looked at it, then freezing completely, staring blankly at it.   
  
"Amai, what's up..?"   
  
After a few seconds he seemed to snap out of it, then showed Rin what he just saw.  
  
_Well shit, we're doomed..._  
  
The two first classes were Ala's history lessons. Rin remember the conversation they had with the black haired demon woman, and deflated visibly.  
  
"Shit shit shit, what will we do now?! You remember what she said yesterday?" Rin yelled, frantic. He grabbed Amaimon by the shoulders. The green haired demon nodded furiously at Rin's question.  
  
"There's no way she was joking, we're going to spend the rest of the school year in detention, or even worse, she'll turn us into minced meat!" Rin said, looking like he had already faced Ala's anger.  
  
He let go of Amaimon, sighing heavily.   
  
"Ugh, let's just go inside, but we should avoid running into Ala at any cost." Amaimon replied, beginning to head inside.  
  
Once inside the academy, they began heading towards the classroom where their next lesson would be held. It seemed like everyone else was doing the same, as the halls were very crowded. This made it harder to avoid Ala, so it was a miracle when the two finally reached their destination.  
  
"Oh, you two came here anyway? Everyone thought you guys decided to skip school today." one of their classmates said.  
  
"Huh? Why are you even bothering to come here?" someone said.  
  
"Hush! They were probably beating somebody up, do you want the same to happen to you?" the someone's friend whispered.  
  
Finally after time that felt like hours their teacher, Nixie showed up. He went to open the door, but before that he gave Rin and Amaimon a suspicious glance.  
  
Everybody stormed inside the classroom, completely ignoring Nixie's orders.  
  
Rin and Amaimon were one of the last ones to go inside, as they were standing further from the door. They finally stepped through the door, and Rin was extremely relieved. They weren't going to-  
  
"Oh, so the two slack-offs decided to show up, huh? Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" came a woman's voice.  
  
Freezing completely in place, the two slowly turned around.  
  
"H-heh, good morning, ma'am..." Rin said letting out a distressed laugh.  
  
In front of them stood an angry looking demon woman, her black hair in a braid and stormy eyes cold and firm.  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter would've been out a few day ago, but guess what? I lost everything I wrote. Not even a part of this chapter, the whole thing! I had to rewrite this chapter, and I'm quite angry as I liked the original version a lot more. But anyway, here this is, hope you like it


	4. Strawberry milk

"Kamiki-chan!"  
  
Izumo gritted her teeth, ignoring her classmate. At some point Shiemi had become very insistent on making Izumo her friend, which irritated her to no end.  
  
Sure, the blonde was very kind and caring, but she hated her inability... to act normally in every situation! It was as if she had lived her whole life in a bubble, separated from everything.   
  
Shiemi was akward and annoying, and Izumo hated it. She was so stupid! She was constantly giving hints to make Shiemi understand that she didn't want to be her friend, but she either didn't get it, or she didn't care about it enough to stop.  
  
"What do you want?" Izumo asked without turning to face Shiemi, her voice cold.  
  
"Um... C-can we go get, uhh, lunch together..?" Shiemi stuttered, shy.  
  
That made Izumo snort, and she turned around. Like always, instead of wearing a school uniform, she was dressed up in a colorful kimono. The kimono made it hard to move around fluently during practise, so Izumo couldn't understand why she didn't just wear the offical school uniform.  
  
Shiemi was fidgeting around nervously, her gaze fixated on the floor. Izumo sighed loudly, making sure she sounded annoyed.  
  
"Why would I?" Izumo asked, hands on her hips.  
  
This made Shiemi look even more nervous, if that was even possible. She looked so unsure that Izumo was worried she might burst into tears at any moment.  
  
"W-well, I-I, I just t-thought it m-might be n-nice..." she mumbled, avoiding Izumo's gaze.   
  
She groaned in irritation. "Ugh, fine. You can come along, but keep a distance between us so people don't think I hang out with you."   
  
Shiemi's eyes lit up immediately at that, and she smiled warmly at Izumo. "Okay!" she chirped, happy.

 _Fool..._ Izumo thought, sighing and shaking her head slightly.  
  
"Also, if you want to sit with me, you need to buy me, let's see... Strawberry milk!" she said. She didn't actually really need anything, but she wanted to see how long Shiemi would continue to do what she said. She stopped doing that for a while after Paku told her it was too mean, and she kind of agrees, but it won't stop her. Izumo just wants to see how eager the blonde is to become her friend. It's all for a good cause!  
  
"Alright! I'll get you some, Kamiki-chan!"  
  
"Good."  
  
Izumo watched as Shiemi walked off, nearly stumbling over at one point, just like the first time she had approached Izumo and Paku in hope of making friends. Izumo pinched the bridge of her nose looking at the shy girl running away.   
  
Paku was Izumo's only true friend, Shiemi had zero chance of being on her level, no matter what she did.  
  
  
  
  
. . . . . .  
  
  
  
  
Shiemi made her way towards a place where she could buy Izumo her strawberry milk. The store was located very close to the school, and it was held by one of the school's students. The girl was very nice towards her customers, and Shiemi had talked with her before.   
  
The girl had tried to get to cram school, but wasn't accepted. She liked to rant about this to Shiemi, and the conversations could last very long times. It was very troublesome, as Shiemi didn't want to be rude and tell her she had to get going, so she had to listen to her complaining.  
  
Shiemi stepped inside the store, glancing at the worn piece of white paper, where "NO DEMONS ALLOWED!!!" was written in large, hot pink letters. It gave off a rather mixed message.  
  
"Oh, Moriyama-kun, pleasant to see you today~" came an awfully sweet and slick voice. Behind the counter stood Mei, smiling from ear to ear.   
  
_I swear she wasn't there before I stepped_ inside. Shiemi thought to herself, then ignoring that completely.  
  
"H-hello Mei-chan, nice to see you too!" Shiemi said nervously, her voice a bit too loud.  
  
Mei laughed in response. "Now now, there's no need to be so tense, we're friends, right?" she giggled. "Or are you just my customer?" she continued. "Or does that even matter? Don't ask me!" she finally finished her rambling with a laugh.  
  
Shiemi walked over to the counter, not looking at Mei. Instead of opening her mouth again, Mei stayed quiet. After a few seconds of silence Shiemi realised that she must be waiting for her to start a conversation. Shiemi blushed and looked up, trying to say something.  
  
"Uhh, y-your dress is nice, i-it's very cute." Shiemi stuttered, her voice barely audible. Mei seemed to understand what she said, as she laughed after Shiemi finished.  
  
"Thank you darling, you don't look so bad youself~" she chuckled.  
  
_Aren't I always wearing pretty much the same thing?_  Shiemi thought.   
  
The compliment was actually genuine, as Mei was absolutely gorgeous. She had mid-lenght light purple wavy hair, forest green eyes and fair skin. She always wore cute earrings, like today they were small silver stars. But the thing that drew Shiemi's attention was her dress. It was a white dress with pastel pink hearts. The hem of the dress was so short that Shiemi couldn't even imagine walking around in something like it. But maybe that was the difference between them- Mei was confident and sure of herself whilst Shiemi was not.  
  
She usually wasn't the jelaous type, but she couldn't help but envy Mei. How she could talk so smoothly with everyone, even complete strangers, having many friends without even trying, when Shiemi couldn't make even one friend even though she tried so hard.  
  
_But I'm here so Izumo will be my friend!_  
  
"So how can I help you today?" Mei asked, smiling.  
  
"R-right! Do you have any strawberry milk?"  
  
"Strawberry milk huh? Let me guess! It's for that girl you've been trying to befriend, right?~" she giggled, smirking.  
  
"H-how do you know about Kamiki-chan?" Shiemi stuttered, eyes widened.  
  
"Oh dear~ I know a lot more than you probably think!" she chuckled. "But I must apologise, I don't have any strawberry milk right now!"   
  
That made Shiemi tense up. Mei sometimes seemed to be aware of things that weren't related to her at all, and it made her slightly uncomfortable.  
  
"Oh, I'll get going then..." Shiemi replied before turning to leave, but then she felt a hand placed on her shoulder. She turned around.  
  
Mei had a puzzled look on her face, and she was quiet.  
  
"Mei-chan..?"   
  
After a few seconds she seemed to come up with an idea, as her eyes gradually lit up. "Chocolate milk!" she suddenly yelled, making Shiemi jump.  
  
"Chocolate milk..?" Shiemi repeated, not understanding what the purple haired girl meant.  
  
"Exactly! Chocolate milk is like strawberry milk but with chocolate and no strawberry. Izumo shouldn't have a reason to complain, when you bring something similar to the thing she wanted~" Mei chuckled, ending her sentence with a wink.  
  
"Oh, yeah, sure." Shiemi said, still feeling unsure.  _Since when has she been aware of Izumo?_  
  
Mei disappeared from her sight for a short moment, trying to find something. The shop was frankly said, chaotic, so it was logical that it would take some time. There was stuff scattered everywhere, but the thing Shiemi was most stressed about was a pile of cans. The pile had way too many dusty, old cans piled on top of each other, and at first glance you could think they're the same stuff, but in reality, they're not. Every can was red and similar in design, but there were cans of both dog food and tomato soup. Also the pile was so unsteady that it could fall over any moment.  
  
"Aha! Found you!" Mei suddenly yelled out, so Shiemi tried to catch a glimpse of her, but she couldn't see her anywhere.  
  
"Here you go~" Mei said, coming from... under the counter? Shiemi swore that she went left, so when did she go under there?  
  
Mei slammed a bottle of something on the table, and if humans could sparkle, at the moment Mei would look like pure glitter. She grinned brightly, motioning Shiemi to pick the bottle up.  
  
Shiemi did as wanted, and realised that it was indeed a bottle of chocolate milk. The bottle was made of glass, with an imagine of a brown cow wearing sunglasses printed on the label. She had never seen chocolate milk like that, and the brand was unknown to her too. Anyhow, it looked quite expensive.  
  
"Thank you, but how much is this?" Shiemi asked, hoping she could afford it.  
  
"Well, as you probably can see, this ain't any cheap stuff." Mei answered, making the blonde deflate. "But since you're one of my regulars, I've decided I'm going to give you a good discount! The price is 150 yen~" she continued, smirking.  
  
A smile rose to Shiemi's lips, who immediately took the money and gave it to Mei. The girl dressed up in a cute dress smiled widely, taking the money and putting it straight to a sparkly silver wallet, that had a keychain with some anime character on it.  
  
Shiemi thanked Mei before sprinting out of the store, not wanting to be late for their next class. She glanced at the bottle of chocolate milk once again, noticing that there was nothing on it in japanese, instead the languages were ones she couldn't recognise.  
  
  
  
. . . . . . .  
  
  
  
  
When she was pretty close to the academy, she was running without paying much attention to her surroundings. She looked up right before bumping to the two people in front of her. She yelped, surprised, and fell to the ground, hitting her elbow on the pavement.  
  
"Ouch..." she whined, realising that her elbow was getting bloody. It was just a scratch, but it still hurt.  
  
"Hey, are you alright?" she heard a voice ask, the speaker sounding male.  
  
"Y-yeah..." Shiemi replied slowly looking up at the two. What she saw made her freeze completely. The two in front of her clearly weren't human.   
  
One of them looked pretty much like a normal human, even though he had dark blue hair. The thing that gave it away were his pointy ears, noticeably sharp canines and a tail slightly moving from side to side, but the thing that shocked Shiemi the most were the eyes. The demon had blue eyes, but the pupils were bright red.   
  
Shiemi instantly shot up, wanting to escape as soon as possible.   
  
"I-I'm so s-sorry, I wasn't p-paying attention!" Shiemi rambled, the sprinting away from the demons. She didn't really see the other one as clearly, but she saw that they had green hair and were wearing clothing fitting for a demon.  
  
Shiemi ran, not looking behind her even though she kind of wanted.   
  
Before she even realised, she had already arrived to the academy, and then went inside without hesitation.   
  
  
  
  
. . . . . .  
  
  
  
  
The three boys were sitting in class, waiting for their teacher to arrive. It wasn't unusual for Mr. Okumura to come late, as there weren't too many exorcists left nowadays, so they were rather busy doing their job. It didn't really bother Bon, as he understood the importance of their teacher's doing, so he had no right to complain.  
  
"What are you reading Bon?" Konekomaru asked, glancing at the paper Bon was holding.  
  
"Verses for defeating demons that are king Astaroth's kin, mostly middle-class ones." Bon replied, not looking away from the paper. He wanted to always have the right verse on his mind, if something unexpected happened. It was natural, as he was aiming to become an Aria.  
  
"Eh? You're devoted to this. Not like I didn't expect you to, though." Konekomaru asnwered, now reading the paper himself too.  
  
The two rehearsed the verses for a while, before Bon decided to put the paper away, not wanting to overdo it and strain his brain too much. He glanced at Shima, who had been strangely quiet for a while, and what he saw made his blood boil. Shima had a magazine with a girl with large boobs on the cover.   
  
_A porn magazine..._  
  
"Shima!" Bon yelled, making Shima shriek in surprise.   
  
"Come on Bon, Sensei isn't here yet, can't I live a little?" Shima said, forcing a smile on his face. "Actually, why don't you two live a little?" he continued, pointing both Konekomaru and Bon with his finger.  
  
The shorter one opened his mouth to object, but was interrupted by Shima who didn't stop talking. "We're 15 for god's sake! We're meant to live our life, it's normal for teenage boys like us to be intrested in hot, curvy girls with big tit-" he was cut off by Bon slamming a book on his face.  
  
"Ow! Calm down, I was just joking." Shima muttered, rubbing his now red nose.  
  
"Tsk! How about you NOT joke around, not everyone is intrested in porn magazines or hot girls." Bon mumbled, more to himself than anyone else.  
  
Shima was just about to continue arguing when Shiemi stormed through the door, catching all of their attention. The blonde looked scared and upset, like she'd seen a ghost.   
  
"Moriyama-kun..?" Konekomaru said, looking at her quizzically, and a bit concerned.   
  
"What happened?" Bon asked, standing up from his seat, as Shiemi began to tear up.   
  
"T-there- I s-saw-" she attempted to say, not finding the correct words. Then she seemed to collect herself, as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then proceeded to open her eyes and speak up.  
  
"I was just overreacting, that's all. I saw to very scary looking demons, and accidentally nearly ran into them." she sighed, brushing her hair with her hands.   
  
"Were they aggressive?" Konekomaru asked, looking slightly concerned.  
  
"Where did you see them?" Bon asked, frowning. He wanted to know if they were about to cause some trouble.  
  
"What did they look like?" Shima asked, not figuring out anything else to ask. He didn't want be left out!  
  
Being bombarded with questions, Shiemi looked distressed, trying to motion the boys to slow down.  
  
"W-well, they didn't really do anything. They looked so powerful that I was startled, that's all..." Shiemi said trying to be convincing, but she just appeared more uncertain than anything.  
  
"Looked powerful? How?" Bon asked.  
  
Shiemi scratched the back of her neck, trying to find an explanation. "I-I can't really explain it, but they looked really frightening, and somehow it felt like they were capable of doing something t-terrible."  
  
"What did they look like?" Shima asked again, the lack of attention making him annoyed.   
  
"Well, I didn't really see the other one too well, but the one I saw had dark blue, messy hair, a tail, sharp canines and pointy ears, like any other demon. But he had these blue eyes with bright r-red pupils." Shiemi said, her voice almost a whisper. "And the one I didn't see had green hair, that's all I noticed."  
  
_I swear I've heard that description somewhere before..._ Bon thought, irritated that he couldn't remember where.  
  
"I saw them close to the school." Shiemi said, an idea forming in her mind. "What if they were students in the academy's demon side? That would explain why they were walking over there."  
  
"Could be, that's the most logical explanation." Konekomaru said.  
  
"Well, I hope you don't run into them again, Shiemi-chan~" Shima flirted, though it was kind of pathetic in all honesty.  
  
"I don't know about that, I-I wish I'd run into them again, so I can apologise for being so rude." the blonde girl whispered, her voice barely audible.  
  
"What?!"   
  
"Moriyama-kun, that's a really bad idea! They're demons, I doubt they'll forgive anyone! And I believe they don't care too much either!" Konekomaru yelled, trying to reason with Shiemi, but it seemed like he was the one who would have to face demons, not the girl herself.  
  
Bon sighed, frustrated. "Koneko, calm down." he said, sending his friend a look. "But Moriyama-kun, I have to say that it's a bad idea, you can't know how they'll react." he continued.  
  
"Y-yeah, I guess you're right..." Shiemi replied, looking a little sad.  
  
"Aww, don't look so down, those bastards don't deserve your forgiveness, don't dwell on it!" Shima comforted her.  
  
"Hold on, what happened to your elbow?!" Bon asked, his gaze fixated on the bloody scratch. It didn't look serious at all, but you could still see some dirt and sand stuck in the wound. There was a hole in the kimono where the scratch was, and the fabric had a bit of red there.  
  
"This?" she asked, taking a look at the wound. "I just fell and scratched it, it's not a big deal."  
  
"You should disinfect it, just to be sure. Dirt in a wound is a big factor in getting an infection." Konekomaru said, nodding his head in the direction of the medicine cabinet attached to the wall next to the sink. It was kept there for pretty obvious reasons, as you can never know what'll happen in an environment like this.  
  
Shiemi just nodded in response.  
  
"By the way, what's that in your hand?" Shima asked, pointing at the glass bottle in Shiemi's hand.  
  
"It's chocolate milk!" the blonde replied, holding the sweet drink so the boys could see it. It nearly flew out of her hand at that.  
  
"What is it for?" Bon asked, staring blankly at the bottle. Shiemi didn't usually bring any food to school, for herself at least. That could only mean that:  
a.) Shiemi just happened to buy it   
b.) She forgot how she always handles things, which wouldn't be too surprising.  
c.) It's that damn Kamiki again...  
  
"Kamiki-chan wanted me to get her some strawberry milk, but the store didn't have it..."  
  
Bon had to resist his urge to groan. Why is it always the worst option in situations like these?  
  
"Uh... so you ended up buying chocolate milk, instead of going to some other place..?" Konekomaru half asked, half stated.  
  
"W-well aren't they kind of the same, in a way?" Shiemi swallowed, now looking more nervous.  
  
"Not at a-" Shima was just about to say, but was cut off by Bon slamming his face with a notebook. The pink haired boy rubbed his now even redder nose. "Am I noticing a pattern here?" he mumbled, without anyone else hearing.  
  
"Don't worry about it Moriyama-kun, Kamiki-san should be satisfied by it." Bon assured her.  _If she thinks she has the right to complain, I'm going to make her understand her place._  
  
Speak of the devil, Izumo and Paku came through the door. The long haired girl saw Shiemi, who was smiling sheepishly. Instead of going to her or smiling back (why the hell would she do that?), she looked away, ignoring her completely.  
  
Shiemi didn't seem to think much of it, as she ran to the girls.   
  
"Good morning Kamiki-chan, Paku-chan!"  
  
Unlike Izumo, Paku smiled back. "Good morning to you too!" she greeted, noticing the bottle Shiemi was holding. "What's with the drink?"   
  
The blonde seemed to remember something, as she kept smiling, but looked a little distressed. She looked at Izumo, holding the chocolate milk out for her to take. Izumo stared at the bottle, silent. She finally seemed to realise what's going on.  
  
"Do you have bad memory or something? I asked you to bring strawberry milk, and that's definitely not it. Are you stupid?" Izumo said, her annoyance clearly audible. Paku looked at her friend, shocked.  
  
Shiemi's smile faltered, and she attempted to explain herself. "T-the store I went t-to didn't have a-any strawberry milk, so I-I thought-"  
  
"You thought what? That you can bring me something completely different from what I wanted?" the other girl asked, laughing mockingly.   
  
Shiemi's smile had totally faded, and she looked close to crying. "W-well aren't chocolate milk and strawberry milk kind of the s-same thing?"   
  
"Not at all."   
  
Paku looked at her friend, hesistant to interrupt. She didn't want Izumo to think that she hated her, but understand that this was wrong.   
  
Shiemi handed the bottle to Izumo, who took it. The blonde's eyes brightened, and the smile she had began to form again. The long haired girl held the glass bottle, inspecting it with her eyes. After a short moment of silence she rolled her eyes and threw the drink in the trash. Paku looked at her in shock, and Shiemi was about to burst into tears. Bon, who had surveyed the situation in silence stood up, angry.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he raged, walking towards the girls. He heard Shima and Konekomaru trying to stop him, but he refused to care about it.  
  
"What do you mean? I didn't ask for chocolate milk, why should I drink it?" Izumo shrugged, not bothering to apologise.   
  
Bon looked like Izumo was a nasty spider in front of his face. "Are you serious? Moriyama-kun here went through the struggle of getting you a drink, and you throw it in the garbage! How ungrateful can you possibly be? It doesn't matter if you don't like chocolate milk, you're meant to be grateful for somebody bothering to do something for you!" he foamed.  
  
"Guys..." Shiemi choked through her tears that had just spilled over, her voice nothing but a whisper. No one heard her.  
  
"Hah! Well look at you, a true hero! You must feel so damn accomplished for helping a weak girl in trouble!" Izumo laughed, the turning over to look at Paku. "I have a true friend here to defend me. I haven't done anything wro-"   
  
"No Izumo..." Paku interrupted, making the said girl go silent. She looked at her friend in disbelief.   
  
"Paku? What...?"  
  
"This is wrong, I'm not going to lie, as I agree with Suguro here. You're being very unfair and rude right now. You've been using Shiemi-chan, giving nothing in return." the short haired girl said, her gaze fixated on the floor.   
  
"Guys stop..." Shiemi whispered, now a lot louder.  
  
"Wha... What? Paku c'mon, this isn't a funny joke at all! You're my best friend, right?" Izumo swallowed, the uncertain and confused look on her face gradually growing. "I'm the one who's right!"  
  
"Guys." came a voice, now a lot firmer but still not heard by anyone else.  
  
"No Izumo, you believe that you're correct, but you are not." Paku objected, giving her friend a dirty look. It was something Izumo had never even believed could happen, so it hurt (of course she wouldn't show it though). "You don't have a nice personality in any way..." the short haired girl continued, now not even looking Izumo in the eyes. Paku's good mood was now completely gone.  
  
"You heard her. I would suggest you to apologise now." Bon said, now standing in front of her.   
  
Izumo huffed in annoyance, before chuckling lightly. She turned away from everyone closing her eyes. "Tsk, that's how it's gonna be then? Fine, live in your stupid fantasy where everyone's kind and friendly towards each other, I don't give a fuck!" Izumo ranted.  
  
That made Bon clench his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms. He couldn't believe how obnoxious and self-centered she could be.   
  
"How the hell can you be this arrogant?! First of all you were being extremely rude towards Moriyama-san, who kindly did her best to get you something you don't even deserve! Then you act like everyone's being rude towards you!" Bon foamed, unable to keep his calm anymore.   
  
"Guys...!"  
  
Izumo snorted at this, turning to face the boy again. "Oh, that's rich. So you guys can be assholes towards me all the time, but I can't treat you the exact same?!"   
  
"Are you sure you're not the one living in a fantasy?! Nobody's been an asshole towards you, not once! I don't know why you've been telling yourself that, but everyone's been rather kind, especially Moriyama-kun here!" Bon continued the quarrel, his eyes practically flaming.  
  
"Hah! You guys are all so stupid. Even though you seem to believe so, friendship is not magic!" Izumo mocked, annoying Bon even more.  
  
"You-"   
  
"Guys, stop this right now!" Shiemi yelled, making everyone go silent. The blonde practically never let herself to be known, so this was a first for everybody.   
  
She had wiped her tears, but her red eyes and the wetness under them gave it away. "P-please stop arguing, i-it won't get you anywhere. I'm alright, and I was the one who's wrong here. Kamiki-chan asked me to bring her strawberry milk but I didn't. So don't fight a-anymore, I'm begging you."  
  
"But Moriyama, you haven't done anything wrong." Bon tried to reason, but it was no avail, as she'd already made her mind.  
  
"Shiemi-" Paku opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Shiemi herself.  
  
"Paku, please don't. Can't we all just drop all of this and try to get along?" She said, a faint amount of hope glimmering in her eyes.   
  
"Eh, I agree with the 'drop all of this' part, but getting along with you guys? Not happening."   
  
Bon glared at the long haired girl, but decided to stay quiet for now.   
  
"Yes, I think that calming down is the best idea." came a familiar voice, making all of the students jump up.  
  
Their teacher, Yukio Okumura stood in front of the class, watching the scene in front of him with curiousity. Nobody realised that he had arrived.  
  
"I don't know what all of this is about, but I'd like to suggest everyone to calm down and sit down for now. You can continue your little get-together later." Yukio said, re-adjusting his glasses.   
  
Everyone sat down, and Bon looked very embarassed for being caught fighting with a classmate. Shiemi walked to the back of the class, heading towards the seat she usually sat at, and was surprised when she saw Paku following her there.  
  
"Paku?" Izumo asked, looking confused.  
  
"Uh, Paku-chan..?" Shiemi gulped, looking at the short haired girl in confusion.   
  
"It's for the best." she stated simply, sitting next to Shiemi. Izumo looked shocked before turning away. Shiemi heard her huff in the distance.  
  
"Now, I hope everyone remembers the one-week training camp that'll start next week." their teacher said. "Now, shall we begin the lesson now, I am sorry for keeping you waiting, but something important came up."  
  
The following lesson went on pretty normally, except for Izumo and Paku not sitting together. It felt very weird, as usually Paku and Izumo were inseparable.   
  
  
  
  
. . . . . .  
  
  
  
The lesson they were having now was about summoning familiars. Those who had a demon familiar were rare nowadays, so there weren't that many tamers left anymore.   
  
_Well, if Paku is gonna keep not talking to me for a while, I'm just going to consentrate in showing others my familiars._ Izumo thought, glancing at her friend and the blonde.   
  
"I gave all of you a piece of paper, now drip your blood there, and say the words that come into your mind first." their teacher said.  
  
"I'm gonna go first." Izumo stated, already dripping some blood on the paper. Here we go!   
  
"I ask the grace of Inari, the god of harvest..." she began, her voice calm yet firm. "...to fulfill my prayers!" she finished, her voice louder and looked in pride as Uke and Mike appeared.  
  
She glanced at the two girls with a proud expression. "Wow, that's amazing!" Shiemi chirped in awe, and Paku looked very impressed too.   
  
"Of course, did you doubt that I couldn't do this?"   
  
Now everyone else was attempting summoning a demon, but nobody had succeeded. Izumo felt great, thinking that she was going to be the only tamer in their class.   
  
"I-I'll try it too!" Shiemi gasped, dripping some blood on the paper. "Come out come out wherever you are... just kidding."  
  
To Izumo's and Shiemi's shock, she actually managed to summon a familiar. It was small, and kind of cute in a way. It was fitting for someone like Shiemi.  
  
"That's a greenman spirit, good job Shiemi Moriyama." their teacher congratulated.  
  
Suddenly the blonde seemed to get an idea, as she looked at Izumo with a smile ob her face. "Look Kamiki-san, I managed to summon a familiar too!"  
  
Izumo was actually quite impressed, though she refuses to show it. "I can see that. It's quite tiny, is it not? It's awfully cute for a demon." she said.  
  
Shiemi's cheeks got red, and she looked amazed and happy. "T-thank you!"   
  
Izumo felt kind of sad seeing that Paku hadn't forgiven her yet, but she would eventually. They were best friends after all!  
  
"Can I call you Nee-chan?" Shiemi asked the greenma spirit who just made a cheerful noice as an response. That seemed to be good enough for the girl, as she looked the happiest in a long time. Even though Izumo would never admit it, it made her a little happier too.  
  
  
  
  
. . . . . .   
  
  
  
  
"Moriyama-san, do you want to eat lunch with me today?" Paku asked, a small smile on her face.  
  
"Oh, I would love to, but I'm going to buy Kamiki-san some strawberry milk now, so I can't."  
  
Paku stopped walking, then turning to face Shiemi. "You understand that you don't have to do any of this, right? If it's tiring you and you want to stop, just say so. Nobody has the right to force you to do this."   
  
Shiemi just kept smiling, and the cheery tone of her voice was still there. "It's not bothering me at all! I actually love doing something for my friend!" she smiled. "I'll get going now, bye Paku-chan!"  
  
"Bye..." she answered, looking at the blonde walking away, her eyes clouded with sadness and worry.  
  
Shiemi was running as fast as she possibly could, nearly falling over at times. The bigger store where she believed she could find strawberry milk was quite far away, but she had a limited amount of time. Her wearing a kimono made running harder too.  
  
_I really should start wearing a school uniform from now on..._  she thought as she tripped over, nearly falling the fourth time.  
  
Shefinally arrived to the store, the feeling of accomplishment making her ignore the burning in her lungs for running so long. When inside the store she began searching for the thing she came to buy. It was easier said than done, as the store was quite full, and Shiemi had to avoid bumping into people.   
  
It was a huge disappointment when she couldn't find any strawberry milk at all. There was some chocolate milk in different flavours, but not a single pink version of it. Shiemi felt really sad, and left the store teary-eyed. She was just about to give up and head back to the academy, when she saw a small shop.  
  
With a small amount of hope in her heart, she walked inside the small store. What she saw made her gasp in surprise. The shop was filled with demons of all kinds.  
  
Shiemi considered leaving the store, but decided that getting Izumo her drink was a lot more important than feeling a little scared around some demons.   
  
She went to find some strawberry milk, and felt slightly uncomfortable as some demons sent her suspicious looks. _What if humans aren't allowed to come here?_ Shiemi panicked.  
  
She felt relieved when she found what she was looking for. A small white plastic bottle with a pastel pink label. It looked very cheap and looking at the price, it was. It would have to do, as it was the only kind the store had. Still better than nothing. Shiemi decided.  
  
She took the bottle and walked towards the cashier. What she saw made her stop completely. Talking with the cashier were two demons, one with dark blue hair and another one with green hair. She hid, not wanting to be seen.

 _Oh no oh no oh no oh no! What should I do, they're right there! Should I go apologise?_ she was internally panicking, not knowing what to do. She considered going to them to apologise, but her classmates' words kept ringing in her head.  
  
She decided to stay put.  
  
She took a better look at the green haired demon, and saw that he was wearing unusual clothing, the coloring of it being mainly dark red. His hairstyle was kind of funny, as in the middle of his head there was a spike. He also remained quiet, whilst the blue haired demon seemed rather talkative. They were chatting with the cashier, and eventually left in a hurry.  
  
Shiemi had to gain some courage before going to the cashier, but she still went there.   
  
"Well, good morning miss. I haven't seen a human come here in a long time!" the cashier chuckled, then motioned Shiemi to come closer. "Why are ya standing so far away, no worries, I won't bite!"   
  
Shiemi got closer hesistantly, still feeling uneasy. She was surprised when the cashier scanned the bottle and saud the amount of money it cost. The blonde took some money from her purse and handed it over.  
  
"Thank you! That wasn't so hard, was it? Oh, and just in case if you're coming here again, my name is Bune, what about you?"  
  
"Sh-Shiemi!" she answered.  
  
"Well, it was nice meeting you Sh-shiemi!" Bune said, ending his sentence with a laugh.  
  
Shiemi took the milk and began running towards the school.   
  
  
  
  
. . . . . .  
  
  
  
Izumo went to sit by herself, looking out for Paku and Shiemi. She wanted to see if her best friend would sit with her today.   
  
Izumo found herself feeling taken aback as she saw Paku coming to the cafeteria alone. The purple haired girl tried to catch her attention, and felt happy as their gazes met. But then Paku looked away, making Izumo's eyes widen. The short haired girl went to sit by herself.  
  
_What the hell's up with her?_ she couldn't help but feel hurt by being ignored by her true friend. Then she felt angry. _If that's how it's gonna be then fine, it doesn't matter to me!_  
  
Izumo didn't have much of an appetite anymore, and she just nibbled her food. She felt tired and lonely, just like the time before Paku became her friend. She used to eat alone, as nobody wanted to sit with her.  
  
"Kamiki-san?"   
  
Izumo looked up, and saw Shiemi who was standing in front of her. She hadn't even heard her walking to her.   
  
"What do you want?" Izumo asked, wanting to dismiss her completely. It was until when the blonde gave her a bottle of something. She just stared at it blankly, then realising what it was.  
  
_Strawberry milk..._  
  
"You- you went to get me some of this..?" Izumo couldn't believe what she was witnessing.   
  
"Of course! You wanted strawberry milk, didn't you?"   
  
Izumo just stayed quiet. After a few seconds Shiemi broke the silence.   
  
"Can I sit with you?"   
  
"Do whatever you want." she said, so Shiemi sat opposite to her. "Sorry if it's bad, that's the only kind the store had."  
  
Izumo opened the cap and took a big gulp. It wasn't anything special, and was far too sweet. The two ate together, and eventually Paku joined them.   
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we've seen how the humans are doing. Yay! This is the longest chaper yet. Izumo was kind of a bitch here, but maybe she'll warm up to Shiemi at some point? Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!


	5. A black cat

The other students had stopped moving inside the classroom, and many were beginning to gather around the scene, wanting to understand what was going on. There was murmuring around them, and a few occasional burst of gleeful laughter. 

 

Ala looked at the two demons in front of her, looking angry and disappointed. Amaimon heard Rin gulp loudly next to him. 

 

“I’m sorry, but can I have Rin and Amaimon come with me for a moment? These two should start to understand how to behave. As someone who has to teach them, you surely must understand.” Ala said to Nixie, voice firm and gaze stern. 

 

Nixie just nodded once as a response, the seaweed hair dripping drops of water on the floor. 

 

“Now…” Ala turned her attention back to the two young demons, making Rin stiffen. It made Amaimon a bit anxious, as Rin was one of the most powerful beings he'd encountered in his life, so to be so on the edge because of her was a sign of ultimate power. Or maybe it was because Ala was one scary and harsh woman? Yeah that made more sense actually…

 

“Follow me, I have to talk to you, and I'm certain that you two are aware what about. You better have a good explanation ready.” Ala said, beginning to walk somewhere, still keeping a close eye on Rin and Amaimon. “Yes ma'am!” the two said in unison, the tone of their voices making Amaimon want to salute.

 

Ala led them to an empty classroom, that looked like it hasn't been used in a long time, as it was pretty dark inside. The one light in the middle of the room was very dim, there were old and worn desks with rusty table legs piled on top of each other, with a layer of dust on top and old papers scattered everywhere. There was only one desk that was in good condition in the middle of the room.

 

Ala took three wooden chairs that matched with the desks and motioned Rin and Amaimon to sit, and they did as asked. The demon woman sat too, so she was opposite to the two.

 

“I'm a woman of my words, you must know that, so I'm surprised that you dared to go against my wish. Can you two offer me an explanation?” 

 

Rin scratched his neck, averting his gaze from Ala and looking at somewhere else. He let out a nervous laugh. “Well, something came up, and we had to take care of it… y'know?” 

 

Amaimon nodded once to show that that's what happened. 

 

Their teacher looked at both of them once, as if to figure if they were lying or not. After a few beats of silence, that to Amaimon felt like minutes, she finally sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose. Then she looked up, looking angry.

 

_ Well shit, here we go…  _ Amaimon thought, deflating.

 

“Oh, ‘something’ came up? I have to say I have no idea what you had to deal with, but since you're not telling me, I hope it's not something I think it might be.” Ala said, eyes cold. 

 

She wouldn't usually be this strict, but she knew the nature of Rin's and Amaimon's way of spending free time, and it wasn't too decent. She’s dedicated her life in getting demons who’ve lost their direction in life on the right, better path. She’s developed the ability to recognise the signs when someone's doing something illegal or anything dumb like that, as she once happened to be in a same position.

 

“I'm saying this for your sake, but you should stop doing this. You've probably heard this many times before, but you should start being more responsible, before you ruin your entire future.” she paused, looking at the two before continuing. “The election for the new demon kings isn't too far away. Nothing’s been confirmed, but I think it's just a matter of months. You two don't have any choice but to take part.”

 

_ Oh, I forgot about all that.  _ Amaimon thought, glancing at Rin, whose lit up expression revealed that he most likely forgot too.

 

“Ugh, I’m not too interested in that shit, to be honest.” Rin sighed, looking at Amaimon.

 

“Me neither.”

 

“Well that's too bad, since you really don't have a choice.” Ala said, making Rin and Amaimon roll eyes simultaneously. 

 

“Oh, by the way, I happened to check out your files,” she saw the two's confused and annoyed looks and elaborated further. “Just a normal background check, I respect your privacy. Anyway, you two have your ranking test approaching, they'll be held in the end of this month.” 

 

Amaimon sighed, as he hated the ranking tests more than anything. They were stressful and annoying, and he doubted that any demon liked them. Sure, he liked fighting for the sake of it being fun, but those tests? Horrible.

 

“So in a few weeks? Dammit, I thought we wouldn't have to do it yet.” Rin groaned.

 

Ala's expression softened a little, and it morphed into a one of… sympathy? That's new.

 

“I know those tests suck, but there's nothing to do about it.” she said.

 

The idea of ranking tests for demons was to test how powerful one was, so if they went rampage humans knew how strong the exorcist had to be in order to defeat them.

 

The test consists of having to fight an exorcist. You're meant to fight so many exorcists one-on-one of different ranks starting from the lowest until you fail to defeat one. The highest class exorcist you defeat will be your own rank. The ranking test is also to determine an exorcist’s rank at the same time.

 

“It feels like it hasn't been even a year yet, but that it's been three years sounds like a lie.” Amaimon said, now joining the conversation seriously.

 

“Yeah, maybe they use like, time magic to make us take those tests once a year, but tell us it's actually once every three years?” Rin joked, and Amaimon hummed in response. Shocking both of them, Ala snickered lightly too. Realising what she just did, she cleared her throat and took a serious expression once again.

 

“Well, you know I won't let this slide, as I hate those who purposely skip my classes, so you'll both be punished. You'll help me for one hour after school for two weeks, understood?” 

 

Rin deflated, looking defeated. Amaimon felt like that too, but kept his expression emotionless the best he could. Rin had always been much more lively and expressive than him. Still, even he couldn't mask his irritation.

 

“Don't give me that look! I'm being fairly forgiving now.” Ala said. That was actually true, as Amaimon once heard of a girl who kept skipping Ala's classes having to help her after school for two hours for two months.

 

“Now, get going! And if I hear that you skipped Nixie's class, you'll spend the whole year in detention.” Ala said, and Amaimon wondered if she was joking or not. Perhaps not.

 

“Yes ma'am! uh... no ma'am!” the two said in unison once again, their backs straight. Ala nodded before getting up and opening the door. She waited until the boys came through before closing the door. It didn't close the first time, and she had to slam it a few times before it finally closed, mumbling something under her breath. 

 

“Now, let's go to Nixie.” Ala said, walking past the two demons. She placed a hand on each's shoulder, pulling them with her. Amaimon looked at Rin, who just shrugged.

  
  
  


. . . . . .

  
  
  
  


They arrived to Nixie’s class shortly after. The black haired woman removed her hands, pushing Rin and Amaimon forward a bit. 

 

“Go inside, but remember to knock.” Ala said, before turning to walk away, her heels making a loud noise that echoed in the halls. 

 

_ Finally she left…  _ the green haired demon thought, glaring at the direction where she went. He glanced at Rin, who was already knocking on the door. 

 

Immediately after knocking three times the door opened. Nixie was standing in the doorway, looking at both of them, then getting out of the way so the two could go inside. Rin went first, Amaimon following right behind him. The class was strangely quiet, but he still stepped inside.

 

Everyone was staring at them in silence, some mumbling quietly. Nixie went to sit in his desk, motioning the two to find their seats.

 

“Blue, Spike head! You're still alive? Everyone thought you guys were turned into minced meat and made into meatballs or something!” Seir, who was sitting in the back of the classroom yelled, ending his dumb joke with a deep laugh. Some in the classroom snickered at him, some just rolled their eyes. Amaimon was one of the latter. 

 

“Shut the fuck up, Seir.” Rin said giving Seir the middle finger, earning him a dirty look from their teacher, who still stayed quiet. Rin sounded menacing, but the wide grin on his face revealed he was just messing around. 

 

The two sat down next to each other like they always did, but Rin had now turned his attention to Seir. “Blue, where the hell were you guys? Many were already making conspiracy theories about you two.” he laughed. 

 

“Seriously? If you're gonna lie, lie in a way that's believable. I know that nobody would give a fuck about us going somewhere.” Rin replied, rolling his eyes. Nixie looked extremely lost now, and couldn't say anything to quiet them down. 

 

“Aww, I would care!” Seir chuckled. That made Amaimon glare at the boy, but Rin just ignored the comment. 

 

It looked like Seir noticed Amaimon’s irritation, as he raised an eyebrow at him. “Damn Spike head, what’s up with you?” Amaimon just rolled his eyes and ignored him. 

 

“Jeez, how can anybody be so serious?” Seir commented, and a few laughs could be heard from around the classroom.

 

“Jeez, how can anybody be so simple?” Amaimon mimicked back, mocking him. Lots of people let out surprised laughs or intrigued oohs and aahs. Rin glanced at Amaimon, a cheerful grin on his face. He gave a very small, barely noticeable smile back. Rin saw it though, as his grin grew into a full smile.

 

“Damn, when did you become this sassy? You're usually the one who just sits in a corner glarin’ at everyone like they're the biggest scum on earth.” Seir replied, acting offended.

 

“Tch! Well, I actually think you're all scum. I've always been like this, I just don't waste my time and energy in idiots like you.” Amaimon said, looking at Seir like he's a nasty maggot.

 

Seir finally seemed to actually get pissed off by this, as he clenched his fist and glared at the green haired demon. Rin was watching the quarrel between the two in interest, as he wanted to figure out why the two didn't get along. Or more precisely, why Amaimon seemed to hate the other so much.

 

Seir chewed his lip trying to stay calm. His anger seemed to get to him, though. “Oh? But I think you got plenty of time to spare, since your big bro's the king of exactly that! I bet you're actually just a spoiled asshole, who gets everything they want! You try to act like you don't think of yourself being better than everyone else, but I'm damn sure you do! You're so cocky-” 

 

“Can you just shut your fucking mouth? I don't think I'm better than everyone, but I still think I'm better than you! And you're using my brother as an argument against me? How funny.”

 

“Well, why do you act so rude towards everyone else except Blue here?” Seir asked mockingly. He seemed so proud of figuring out a question that would reveal that Amaimon was lying.

 

“Because Rin is my friend, and I like him better than anyone else here.” Amaimon said. To Seir's surprise he seemed sincere, though a little embarrassed about saying something like that out loud. Rin looked a bit shocked, but there was a slight smile on his face.

 

Seir looked annoyed, giving Amaimon a dirty look. “Ugh! You liste-”

 

“Silence!” Nixie finally managed to yell, silencing the whole class. Almost everyone was taken aback by him raising his voice, as he often couldn't do anything but just watch the fights happen. Everyone was quiet and paying attention to their teacher. 

 

“Stop this… fuss right now! I understand that you guys have disagreements, but take care of them somewhere else. My, or anyone else's lesson is not the place for arguments!” Nixie said firmly.

 

Seir was about to roll his eyes, before noticing Nixie’s gaze fixated on him, so he just said “Fine”. Amaimon on the other hand rolled his eyes, not caring about how his teacher would react. He didn't say anything, deciding to stay quiet.

 

Nixie cleared his throat, continuing the lesson. The rest of the class went normally, nothing interesting happening. Amaimon wasn't interested in the lesson, and like always, neither was Rin. He glanced at the blue haired demon’s notebook, and saw him drawing stick figures. Amaimon snorted, catching Rin's attention. His friend showed a drawing of a simple stick figure, but unlike the others, it had a spike on his head. 

 

Amaimon grabbed a notebook and hit Rin with it, though there was no malicious intent. They were always messing with each other, but nobody else dared to do anything that might annoy Amaimon. For some reason people thought that he had zero sense of humor, which was not true. He just didn't like being made fun of. 

 

Rin was an exception though. He never found himself truly angry with him, sometimes irritated yes, but not angry. Rin was probably the only person who Amaimon truly liked and trusted. Sure, there was Mephisto, but he was as far from being trustworthy as a person could be. He was annoying too.

 

Amaimon took a candy from his pocket and carefully unwrapped it, trying to stay unnoticed. Food wasn't allowed in class, which was dumb in his opinion. Who the hell could go through a long lesson without some food to give them energy. Amaimon put the candy in his mouth, glancing at Rin. His friend was looking at him with a familiar expression.

 

_ He and his damn puppy eyes…   _

 

Amaimon took another piece of candy, handing it to Rin. That's pretty much how the rest of the lesson went, them eating candy in secret, not paying the lesson any attention. At one point the two were drawing even more stick figures, adding one detail so they resembled everyone in the classroom. Eventually one whole page from Rin’s notebook was filled with childish drawings. 

 

This is pretty much how every lesson went, every day. Many people in their life tried to get them to care about education more, but the two couldn't care less. Why should they? The life they were living now was good enough, for Amaimon at least. 

 

Some years ago Amaimon would have despised the idea if having a friend so close, that they could be considered inseparable. But now, he wouldn't give Rin away for anything. Life’s funny, isn't it?

  
  
  


. . . . . . 

  
  
  
  


Finally all the classes of the day were over, and it was time for Rin and Amaimon to go to Ala. 

 

“Dammit, we gave to suffer for one more hour? This will be one of the worst experiences in my whole life.” Rin complained, intentionally acting overly dramatic.

 

“Well, it won't be as bad as having to join my brother for dinner…” Amaimon mumbled, remembering that he has to go through that hell today. 

 

“Oh, good luck with that then.” Rin replied, placing an hand on Amaimon’s shoulder to show his sympathy. 

 

_ Oh, right. I forgot to tell him about it.  _ Amaimon thought, deciding to let Rin know that he would be dragged to hell with him.

 

“Actually, he wanted you to join us today. I already told him you said yes.” Amaimon said with a sly smile. It was a lie, as he hadn't replied to his brother at all. But a small lie like that can't hurt anyone. Amaimon wanted Rin to tag along, as everything became at least a little enjoyable with Rin. 

 

“No way…” Rin sighed, looking defeated. Amaimon nodded as a response. The blue haired demon looked up, looking betrayed. “Amai, how could you?” 

 

“Aww, I didn't want to make my dear big brother sad.” Amaimon said jokingly, making Rin roll his eyes.

 

“That's the biggest bullshit I've heard in a while.” Rin said. Amaimon just shook his head, trying to hide the smile that forced itself on his face.

 

“What's bullshit?” came a voice of a woman, catching both Rin's and Amaimon's attention.

 

Ala stood in the end of the hallway, watching both of them. The two hadn't even noticed her, as she was standing in a shadow of a sculpture hung on the wall. 

 

_ Why is she here?  _ Amaimon thought, glancing at his friend.

 

“Why are you here? I thought we were  supposed to come to you, not the other way around.” Rin stated, making Amaimon’s lips twitch in amusement. It really seemed like the two thought the same.

 

“Well, when it comes to the two of you, I can't find myself trusting you enough to not keep an eye on you. I've heard that you have the tendency to skip detention and other kinds of punishments like that, so I came to make sure you come with me.” 

 

“Eh? I don't think we've skipped detention even once…” Rin thought out loud, glancing at Amaimon as if to get an answer from him. 

 

“Haven't we done that like, five times now?” Amaimon whispered, not wanting Ala to hear.

 

Rin seemed to remember now too, as his eyes lit up. “Oh shit, you're right…” 

 

Ala groaned loudly, staying silent for a few seconds. Then she looked up, clearing her throat. “Whatever, just follow me.” she said, turning to walk away, motioning the two to ensue. 

 

She led them to the same dusty and dark room as before, confusing Amaimon. Surely they wouldn't be cleaning a disaster like this. Wasn't helping a teacher supposed to be taking care of some unimportant papers and stuff?

 

“I was given this room as my own homeroom, so I don't have to keep switching classrooms every day. But as you probably can see, its condition isn't too good. So I want you to clean this room, so I can start teaching here. Understood?” 

 

“Understood.” the two echoed. 

 

“Good. Now get to work. I've decided that you'll come here for one hour after school until this room is as good as new. How many times you come here is up to you.” Ala stated, looking at the two of them firmly.

 

Rin and Amaimon got to work immediately. Cleaning the classroom in less than a week was practically impossible, but they were still gonna try. 

 

Amaimon decided that he was going to change the light bulb, so they could see what the hell they're doing. Rin, being physically stronger, took the job of arranging the desks around the classroom. 

 

Little did they know, a pair of storm colored eyes were watching them in interest. Ala was standing in a corner, hid by the shadow. She was curious about how they would arrange the classroom. She saw when Rin picked up two desks at a time, one in each hand. He then proceeded to put the desks in an order. He piled five chairs on top of each other, taking two piles at once.

 

Ala was very impressed by the strength the boy possessed, but not too surprised. He was the son of Satan after all.

  
  
  


. . . . . . 

  
  
  
  


One hour passed too fast than Amaimon wanted to, as he wished to clean the classroom as fast as possible, so they didn't have to bother themselves with it too long. He also didn't want to dine with Mephisto, but having Rin suffer with him made him feel a bit better about it.

 

They said their goodbyes to Ala and left the school to get to their bus stop. It was now 4.pm, so there weren't too many students at the school anymore. The bus arrived right as they got to the bus stop, so they got inside.

 

“Hey, weren't we supposed to go buy some new games?” Amaimon asked Rin, who seemed to remember that too.

 

“Oh, right. Well, do you still wanna go? We can get out now, since we’re still pretty close to the game shop.” Rin replied, looking at his friend, waiting for him to answer. 

 

“Do we have enough time though? Since we gotta join Mephisto for dinner and all.” 

 

Rin seemed to remember that, and was visibly disappointed, pouting. “Oh, right. I Already forgot.” he laughed, though it sounded forced. Amaimon frowned slightly because of that, as the idea that he'd just ruined a possible moment together made him feel bad. 

 

They arrived to their destination shortly, exiting the bus. “Hey, should we just go to Mephisto’s place now, so we can get the whole thing out of the way?” Rin asked.

 

Amaimon wasn't too excited about that, as neither of them were ready for a dinner. They were wearing their casual clothing (though in Amaimon’s case, his casual clothing was fitting for a special occasion).

 

Rin seemed to understand what Amaimon was thinking of, as he explained further. “I don't care about what I wear, since its just Mephisto. If you wanna change clothes, go ahead, but I won't. Mephisto has no say in what I decide to wear.”

 

“I guess you're right…” Amaimon sighed, still not convinced.

 

The two headed towards the mansion where Mephisto lived. It wasn't far enough to go by bus, but it still took a while to walk. Normally it would take around 15-20 minutes to get there by foot, but this time it took them half an hour. Rin happened to see a white stray cat and a litter of six kittens, all of them being either black or white or both. Amaimon usually wasn't too interested in stray animals, but seeing Rin so happy made him feel a little happy too.

 

It looked like Rin was handling one kitten at a time, giving them belly rubs and petting them. The mama cat didn't seem to mind one bit, and actually kept nudging the demon's hand.

 

The last kitten he got to was a lot bigger than the others. It was a black cat, but upon closer inspection, Amaimon saw that it had two tails. Rin seemed to notice that too, as he carefully turned the cat over to see it’s face. 

 

Unlike the other kittens, that all had either yellow or amber eyes, this one had green eyes and the lower half of his face was brownish. It also had two small green horns. Amaimon walked to Rin, crouching so he could see the cat better. 

 

“It's not a regular cat, isn't it?” Rin said to no one in particular. Amaimon reached for the cat so he could pet it, but it hissed at him, so he drew his hand back. 

 

“Damn cats…” he muttered under his breath, making Rin snort. “It must be a demon of some sort. You have any idea what it is?” he asked Amaimon, now scratching the cat behind the ears, making it purr in delight. 

 

“It's most likely… no, it must be a Cat Sídhe.” Amaimon answered. He'd read about them when he was younger and more devoted to learning. He was pressured to know about all kinds of demons, so naturally he knew about Cat Sídhes. He didn't really remember much, or just didn't care to remember.

 

“Oh…” Rin said, clearly thinking about it. “What are they?” he finally continued after a few moments of silence. 

 

Amaimon groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Rin really didn't know anything about- well anything. He couldn't understand how he was so clueless, even though the two were raised in a similar fashion; taught about the world and shit from a young age. 

 

It was natural for those who are born important to be aware of their own status, and thus they'll usually be taught and raised more strictly than those who are born unknown. On the other hand, those who aren't born wealthy or famous but end up becoming important later in life work hard for their place. It's quite rare for people to just end up famous or influential. 

 

“Cat Sídhes are a type of demon that possess cats.” Amaimon explained, but Rin just stared at him, possibly trying to process what he just heard. The green haired demon shook his head, getting a bit closer to the Sídhe. He made sure to stay far enough, as he didn't want to stress or anger the small demon.

 

“This one must bit quite old, as it has two tails. Japanese Sídhe develop that characteristic with time.” Amaimon stated, internally proud for remembering that pretty much useless piece of information.

 

“Oh… I see. But what's it doing in a regular litter of kittens?”

 

Amaimon couldn't figure out an answer to that, though he hoped he could. It was a good question, since neither of them had no idea.

 

“... maybe the mama cat adopted it, thinking it is a helpless orphan kitten. Perhaps it saw a good opportunity to get free care and shelter, and took it?” Rin proposed, answering his own question. “That's what I would do anyway.” he added under his breath, probably accidentally thinking aloud. 

 

“Most likely.” Amaimon agreed. He then remembered what they were actually meant to be doing. “We should get going, before my brother decides to come looking for us.”

 

“Aww, no way! Can't we stay here for a little longer? Mephisto can wait for now.” Rin complained, pouting. 

 

_ Not those puppy eyes again…  _ Amaimon managed to avoid being manipulated by the look. He wouldn't give in anymore.

 

“Ugh, fine fine.” Rin groaned when he saw his friend's stern gaze, slowly getting up. He put his hands in his pockets and was about to walk off, when all of a sudden came a voice. 

 

_ Where do you think you're going?!  _

 

The two demons stiffened, looking for a source of the voice. It took a moment for Amaimon to realise that the voice was inside their heads. It sounded echoey, like a loud whisper was bouncing inside his skull or mind. It catched him off guard, as he wasn't used to being talked to telepathically. 

 

Rin looked back at the cat, who was now standing, looking at them angrily. The Sídhe was now clearly bigger, possibly to make Rin and Amaimon understand that it's not a weak kitten. The white mama cat hissed at the black cat, trying to protect her kittens, who were now squirming around, confused.

 

_ You have to stay here!  _

 

Rin just blinked once, staring at the cat. “Why should we?” 

 

The Sìdhe seemed to not have an answer ready, so it didn't respond right away.  _ Be- because I say so! _

 

“And why are we supposed to do what you tell us to?” Rin asked, now just wanting to annoy the tiny demon.

 

_ You- I- its- because-  _ the cat was struggling to find a reasonable explanation. Rin just raised an eyebrow at the demon's struggle, trying his best to conceal his amusement. He was just about to make a snarky comment, when the cat finally replied.

 

_ I don't want you to go. It's so boring over here, and I'm lonely…  _ it said, obviously very embarrassed to say something like that.

 

“Lonely?” Amaimon asked, now joining the conversation. The Sídhe looked away, nodding slowly. Amaimon was pretty surprised at the small demon's honesty, and looking at Rin's expression, he was too.

 

The black cat glared at Amaimon, making it known that he should stay quiet. It then proceeded to turn its attention back to Rin.  _ Well yeah. Is it that weird to you?!  _

 

“Well, not really. We're just curious how you ended up being in a litter of regular kittens, that’s all.” Rin answered honestly.  The cat eyed him suspiciously, before deciding he was indeed telling the truth.

 

_ Well in that case… can I come with you?! _ the cat asked, eyes practically sparkling with joy and hope. 

 

“Wait, what? You want to come with me? Why the hell?” Rin bombarded the demon with questions, desperate to find out if it was serious.

 

_ Yeah! I can sense that you're nice, and similar to my old owner, so I want to live with you. I’m a cat, so I'll make a good pet!  _ the Sídhe cheered, before noticing that it just told them something that wasn't meant to be told. 

 

“Your old owner? Who?”

 

The demon just shut up, not making any eye contact with either of them. What happened was none of their business, and the Sídhe refuses to 

reveal anything about Shiro. 

 

“Ugh, whatever, come here.” Rin sighed, grabbing the tiny demon, making it yelp in surprise. He then proceeded to shove it inside his bag. Amaimon couldn't hold in his smirk, seeing how casually his friend put the Sídhe inside his bag. It kept squirming around, trying to wiggle its way away.

 

“Well, let’s go. I don't want to make our dinner any longer with Mephisto complaining or teasing about how late we are.” Rin said, already continuing their way.

 

_ Hey, let me out of here! When I said I wanted you to be with me, this isn't what I meant! _

 

“Yeah, but this is for the best. Just stay in there for a few hours, okay?” Rin said, making the black cat grumbled, but still kept pretty quiet. 

 

“So, are you a boy or a girl?” Rin asked, fully serious. The cat demon looked at Rin a bit weird, but didn't really seem to mind that question.  _ I'm a male.  _ It replied, and the blue haired demon nodded, happy that he got an answer without any trouble.

 

“And what about your name?” he asked after his first question.

 

Immediately after Rin had said that, a cheerful voice rang inside their mind.  _ Kuro!  _

 

“Kuro? That makes sense.” Amaimon mumbled, his voice not heard by anyone.

 

The three kept walking (or rather two walked, one was kept inside a bag), making their way towards Mephisto's mansion. Neither of them was prepared for any of it, but they still had to go. Amaimon kept wondering what important detail he was forgetting about Sídhes, but couldn't figure out what. After a few minutes, he finally remembered what was so important.

 

“Hey Rin. Cat Sídhes have the ability to make themselves bigger, and in that form they're much more powerful.” 

 

Rin glanced at Kuro, who was still inside his bag, for confirmation. Kuro nodded as a response.

 

“Wow, cool!” Rin said, amazed. He had that same sparkle in his eyes that made Amaimon feel something. It was almost like happiness, or a feeling like he could be as positive as his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a new chapter! Nixie is actually a creature in some countries mythology, including mine, so I wanted to have him here. Nixie has a different name in my language, but I think Nixie sounds better. I've been pretty busy with school and stuff, but I try to write new chapters when I have time and also feel like it. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!


	6. Strength and weakness

Izumo and Paku were walking towards the place where their training camp was supposed to be held. The purple-haired girl kept looking for any signs for Shiemi, as she wanted to avoid her. It could be possible that the blonde now thought that they were true friends, because they had a kind conversation once. 

 

Paku had been unusually quiet since their small fight, even though Izumo had apologised (well, kind of). She'd tried to make Paku forgive her, but she couldn't figure out what she was meant to do.

 

“Kamiki-san, Paku-san!” a bright and happy voice came, and it was rather quiet and weak for a yell.

 

_ Great, she's already here…  _ Izumo thought, sighing heavily. That catched Paku's attention, and she glanced at her friend. Izumo was frowning, rolling her eyes slightly. She felt bad for Moriyama-san, since she was so kind yet too naive for her own good. Izumo was really treating her unfairly.

 

“Hello, Moriyama-san.” Paku said once they'd gotten closer to the building. Izumo didn't greet her in any way. Instead, she threw her bag at her, and Shiemi grabbed it, nearly dropping it at first.

 

“Can you hold this for me?” Izumo asked, though it was more like a command.

 

“Of course!” the girl dressed in a kimono said, smiling. When Izumo's attention was somewhere else, Paku approached Shiemi.

 

“Mo-Moriyama-san, you know you don't have to do what she says, if it's bothering you.” the short-haired girl whispered. 

 

Shiemi looked at Paku, slightly confused. She was still smiling, but it was hard to tell if it was forced or not. “Oh, don't worry! I don't mind it, and I'm happy Kamiki-san trusts me enough to have me do stuff for her. That's what friends are for!”

Paku was rather surprised by that, as she was almost 100% sure Shiemi was bothered by practically being Izumo's maid now. It was impossible to understand what was going through the blonde’s head.

 

Izumo was standing a few meters away from them, and she wasn't even looking at them. Why would she? She doesn't even like Shiemi, so why give her any attention? Izumo then heard light steps approaching her, and she turned to face the girl dressed in a kimono. 

 

“Hello Kamiki-san!” she chirped, blushing a bit. “Your new earrings look beautiful on you.” she complimented. Izumo had bought new earrings, small black diamonds. Not real of course.

 

“Thanks, your kimono is very cute.” 

 

“Eh?!” Shiemi gasped, the red on her cheeks becoming more bright.

 

_ W-what? Why the hell did I say that?  _ Izumo thought, struggling to keep her expression calm. The words just escaped her mouth, she didn't even realise she said something like that!

 

“I- Thank you Kamiki-san!” Shiemi smiled widely, eyes sparkling with joy. Izumo didn't know what to say anymore. After a few seconds she managed to collect herself again.

 

“Tsk! You're welcome, but don't think I'm gonna start being any nicer to you!” Now she wasn't even trying to hide her dislike towards Shiemi anymore.

 

“Oh, I know! But I really mean it, you're really pretty!” Shiemi laughed, her expression barely changing even though she just said something kind of awkward. Izumo was taken aback by this, as she didn't expect Shiemi to think of her that way. Wasn't she talking about earrings at first?  _ Maybe she just got confused and said something dumb.  _ Izumo finally concluded.

 

“Yeah, thanks Moriyama-san…” Izumo mumbled, still embarrassed about saying something as weird as that. Maybe she was just so tired that she couldn't consider what she was saying.  _ I really should sleep more…  _ Izumo had a better look at the building they were standing in front of, and just now realized how creepy it looked. She glanced at Shiemi, deciding to mess with her a little.

 

“What a scary looking place, it looks like some kind of ghost hotel.” Izumo stated, watching in amusement how the blonde’s expression slowly switched from happy to frightened. “Gh-ghost?!” she shrieked, taking a few steps away from the building.

 

“Well, since this  _ is _ a training camp, there most likely is something dangerous inside.” Izumo continued the teasing.

 

Shiemi was clearly panicking, and the purple-haired girl opened her mouth to say something again, until she saw the look on Paku's face. The brown-haired girl seemed to be frightened too, but there was some other emotion on her face too. She seemed to be… troubled by something? Izumo froze immediately after seeing that.

 

She didn't try to mess with Shiemi anymore, seeing the strange look on Paku's face.

  
  


. . . . . . 

  
  
  


After five minutes of waiting everyone had finally arrived to the building where the training camp was to be held. Shiemi had calmed down a little after a few minutes, but was still clearly uncertain about going inside the building. 

 

“Great, it seems like everyone’s arrived.” Yukio said, still being professional even though he was smiling lightly. “I believe that you all know how to behave during a camp, so I'm going to stick to telling the basics quickly. You can share a room with anyone you want, since there is more than enough space. However, the rooms should be located on the second floor, so we'll be close to each other just in case anything happens.” That made Shiemi, who was standing next to Izumo stiffen, but she remained surprisingly calm.

 

“You should also remember that the idea of this camp is not to have fun, but to train. That being said, you can use the bath freely.” Yukio finished, motioning the students to follow him inside. He showed them around, and they finally arrived to the second floor where the rooms were.

 

Bon, Shima and Konekomaru got a room together. Izumo went to Paku, wanting to ask if they could share a room, though it was obvious that the short-haired girl wouldn't deny. “Hey Paku, share a room with me.”

 

“Y-yeah, sure.”

 

Izumo just smiled at her best friend, until the blonde decided to butt in. "Can I share a room with you two? I've never slept with others my age." 

 

Paku glanced at Izumo, already fearing the reaction she would have. As expected, she wrinkled her nose and didn't even consider giving Shiemi a chance. "Yeah, no. I won't share a room with anyone else than Paku today." Izumo said coldly, and the blonde flinched at how harsh she sounded. "But maybe someday, if I want to." she continued, regretting it immediately when she saw Shiemi's expression lighting up. "A-alright!" she said, smiling from ear to ear.

 

The rest of the day went with them studying and training for the Exwire Authorization Exam. Izumo was pretty tired after it all, but it was nothing compared to how exhausted Paku looked. She was constantly struggling to keep up with everyone else, so she had to work very hard to even keep the results close to the other students.  _ It's all because she isn't used to being in contact with demons or having to defend herself from them. But she'll learn soon enough!  _ This was what Izumo kept telling herself all the time.

 

"Hey Paku-chan, do you want to come to the bath with me? You look like you need it." Izumo suggested. Paku seemed to be thinking about it for a few seconds, before answering with a simple "Sure."

 

The two made their way towards the bath, walking in silence unusual between the two. Shiemi was following them some meters behind, irritating Izumo. She chose to keep quiet, seeing the wary glances she was sending the two. Izumo of course wasn't going to let the blonde join them, since they barely knew each other.

 

"Wow, I've never been to a bath with someone other than my mom!" Shiemi chirped, her face sparkling with joy. Now Izumo was finally ready to tell the girl how things were. "Actually, could you stay outside? I don't want you to see me naked." 

 

Izumo didn't even glance at Paku, already knowing how she must be reacting; disappointed  and in shock. Shiemi's smile lost some of its previous energy, fading slightly. Even her greatest effort couldn't hide her sadness clearly apparent in her green eyes. If Izumo was any softer she would feel bad, but she doesn't give others unnecessary pity. 

 

"O-oh, alright…" 

 

"While you're at it, could you get me some fruit milk? I'll be thirsty after I come out from the bath, and it's not like you have anything better to do." Izumo said, already halfway through the door.

 

"Yeah, I'll go.." 

 

Izumo then went inside and slammed the door closed when she and Paku were inside. She could hear Shiemi walk away, and finally felt relaxed. "Finally she's gone." she mumbled under her breath, earning herself a sad look from Paku. She didn't notice it though.

 

"Aren't you being a little too harsh towards Shiemi-chan? She doesn't mean any harm, she just wants to be friends with us." 

 

"Hah! Well I don't want to be friends with her." Izumo said, then walking over to Paku and taking a hold of her hands. "But you're different! You're my best friend after all. I'm happy you came to the exorcist school with me." Silence followed her words. Paku's gaze was fixated on the floor instead of her purple-haired friend.

 

"But I can't keep up with the rest of you at all…"

 

"Don't worry! I promise that I'll protect you forever." 

 

A few seconds of tense silence followed yet again. Paku removed her hands out of Izumo's hold. Izumo looked at her, confused. Paku seemed to be debating whether to speak her mind or not, sighing. "Izumo-chan… I'm going to quit Cram School." 

 

Izumo tensed up, looking at he friend in clear shock and disbelief. "Huh?" She was certain she heard wrong, but the look on Paku's face hinted that wasn't the case. It was sad and a little ashamed, but at the same time confident.

 

"I don't understand classes at all, and I'm always scared during simple practise even though I know I'm not in any real danger. There's no way I could get used to risking my life and facing death every day. You won't be able to protect me all the time, and you know that yourself." Paku elaborated.

 

"N-no! You're doing just fine-!" Izumo tried to say, but was interrupted by Paku. "No. I've made my decision, and I'm sorry that I've kept this to myself. There's one more thing that's been bothering me, and most likely someone else too." Paku paused for a short moment. Izumo was confused and in a state of shock.

 

"Now that I've seen the way you treat Shiemi-chan, somebody who's a genuinely nice person that doesn't mean any harm at all, I've come to realize that you're not a true friend. I know this sounds harsh, but I'm sick of telling myself otherwise. Sorry Izumo." Paku said, her voice growing more confident with every word.

 

_ You're not a true friend…  _ Those words kept ringing in Izumo's head over and over again, making her feel like she was suffocating. One drop of sweat ran down her forehead. She felt a bit dizzy and it was hard to concentrate in what was happening. One thing caught her attention; a drop of some kind of dark liquid falling from the ceiling to Paku's cheek. 

 

The two girls looked up almost simultaneously, and what Izumo saw made her eyes widen in terror. In the ceiling was a scary looking creature, a demon.  _ A ghoul?! What the hell is it doing here?  _ Izumo thought, taking one step backwards on instinct. The air was pierced by Paku's terrified scream. It looked like the short-haired girl was frozen in place by fear.

 

"Paku!" Izumo yelled, trying to get her friend to snap out of it, when in that exact moment the ghoul attacked Paku, knocking her on the ground. There was a wound forming on her arm, and Izumo knew immediately what it was and what could happen if it wasn't treated soon.

 

_ I have to help her!  _ Izumo thought, taking out one of the sheets their teacher gave her. "I-I ask the g-grace if Inari, t-the g-god of harvest, to f-fulfill my prayers!" she yelled, failing to not stutter out of fear.

 

Uke and Mike appeared right away. "I'll-" she began, but hesitated as Paku's words popped up in her head again.

 

That caught Uke's and Mike's attention.  _...Thou… Why doest thy heart be in that state..?  _ one of them said, and suddenly their want to fight the ghoul had disappeared and turned into malice against Izumo instead. The two foxes had turned to approach Izumo slowly, preparing for attack. Izumo couldn't help but retreat, her legs feeling heavy and tired. Tears were starting to form in her eyes.

 

_ N-no, why? What…? Why can't I do anything? Didn't I just swear to protect Paku if something dangerous were to happen? I can't do anything but just cry about it… Why… why am I so weak? _

  
  


. . . . . .

  
  


Shiemi watched how Izumo slammed the door closed in front of her face, finally letting her bright smile falter and then it faded completely. Shiemi stood there in silence, before walking off. She had to go get Izumo her fruit milk, and there was no time to spare. 

 

She walked to the end of the dark and ghostly hallway, then suddenly stopping in her tracks. For some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to go, even though it was Izumo's wish.

 

_ Friends are supposed to help friends. _ Izumo's words that she'd said multiple times before went through her head, but now those words that had meant the world to her seemed to have lost a part of their meaning.

 

_ But why do I feel so disappointed? It's nothing but natural that she doesn't want me to see her naked when we haven't even known each other for that long! I'm the one being unreasonable here.  _ Shiemi thought, trying to get herself to move again. It was useless.

 

"What- what am I doing..? Izumo wanted me to do her a favor, since that's what friends do…" she whispered to herself. The thing that was keeping her from moving were her own emotions, she was tired of running around and doing favors for Izumo. She was beginning to understand that wasn't true friendship after all. But there was the faint feeling of danger that kept bothering her.

 

Then she heard a scream echoing in the dark hallway. The source if it wasn't too far away, and Shiemi recognised the voice and where it came from.

 

_ Paku-san and Kamiki-san!  _

 

Shiemi sprinted to the direction where the voice came from without any hesitation. She herself was surprised at how quickly she reacted, considering how she usually was. Now the hallway seemed to never end, even though Shiemi was running as fast as she possibly could. Her kimono was slowing her down, and she was constantly close to falling over.  

 

The 30 seconds it took Shiemi to get where she had to felt like 30 minutes to her. She was worried that she'd have a heart attack any second, but finally she was standing outside the door. Then she stopped, suddenly unsure about going inside.

 

_ What if Kamiki-san gets mad? Maybe I'm getting worked up about nothing.  _ Shiemi wondered, keeping her hand still on the door knob. Then she heard panicked screams coming from inside, and decided to go in after all.

 

"Kamiki! Paku!" she yelled the moment she opened the door. What she saw made her freeze. She saw Izumo backed in a corner by… her familiars? Shiemi was confused, so it took her a small moment to see the fear in Izumo's eyes. She remembered what their teacher had said about familiars attacking their human and how to handle a situation like that.

 

_ Thou are not worthy of me!  _ One of the demon foxes yelled, attacking Izumo, who got out of the attacks way just in time. "Kamiki-san! Rip the paper!" Shiemi yelled, hoping from the bottom of her heart Izumo heard her words.

 

"Huh?! Oh, o-of course." Izumo finally understood what to do, and tore up the paper to small shreds. Uke and Mike disappeared immediately.

 

Izumo turned to look Shiemi in the eyes. "W-we have to help Paku!" she said, a small tear running down her cheek. Shiemi now turned her attention to Paku, and saw for the first time what had attacked her. It was the scariest thing she'd ever seen, and she couldn't help but take a few steps aback in panic. 

 

It took her time to compose herself again, and she nearly ran away in panic. However, seeing how crushed Izumo, her friend, looked, she managed to gather some bravery. She took out one of the papers, and quickly summoned Nee chan, who appeared with a puff of white smoke.

 

"Nee-chan, can you grow me some oak, and use it to protect Paku-san from that demon?" 

 

"Nee!" the small green demon cheered, and right away many branches of oak grew out of its body and made their way towards Paku and the ghoul. Quickly the branches separated the ghoul and Paku. Izumo had not expected Shiemi to be able to do that, since she was under the impression that Nee couldn't do much. It was a surprise for her.

 

Even though the wood was hard and there was a lot of it, the ghoul still kept destroying branches so fast that it was hard for Shiemi and her familiar to keep up.  _ N-no! I have to protect Paku from that thing! She's my one of my only friends, and I won't let her die!  _ the blonde was screaming internally. She was getting tired very quickly. She'd never known that fighting with a familiar would be this rough.

 

The ghoul didn't show any signs of giving up, and Shiemi understood that she couldn't keep goin for too long anymore.  _ What happens if we fail?  _ Shiemi asked herself, but she knew the answer already. The ghoul was aggressive, and if Paku didn't get treatment soon she wouldn't survive. 

 

Shiemi glanced at Izumo, hoping to get her to help. The purple-haired girl was curled up in a corner, head buried between her knees. The blonde was shocked to see the usually strong and confident girl in such state. "K-Kamiki-san!" she yelled, and Izumo's head perked up. 

 

"I-I'm sorry, but I c-can't do this anymore…. I'm g-getting exhausted…" Shiemi told the other girl, ashamed of her weakness. 

 

"But you must! That ugly thing is going to kill Paku!"

 

"I'm s-sorry Kamiki-san… But if I can keep it away for some more, you have to chase it away s-so we can help Paku-san!" 

 

Izumo looked at the mess of cut down branches and at the teen underneath them. "I can't, y-you saw what happened with Uke and Mike. I'm weak, too weak to do anything…" 

 

Shiemi, sweat running down her face, gave Izumo a look never seen on here before. "No! Y-you're not weak, I a-am. You're so much stronger than I could ever be, so I know you can do it!" Izumo looked at the blonde with widened eyes. Shiemi continued. "You're one of the strongest people I've ever met, so don't let yourself down like that! You managed to summon two super cool familiars, and I'm certain I'm much more scared than you, so you can still do it!" 

 

Izumo just stared at the girl, not finding any words. Eventually she seemed to come to her senses, and stood up. Shiemi's words sparked some kind of new feeling deep inside her. "Uke! Mike!" she yelled, not bothering to say anything better. Her two familiars appeared right away, but their expressions turned cold and menacing the moment they saw Izumo.

 

"How dare thy ask for ours help?! You arest not wor-"

 

"Silence! It is my job to order you around, not the other way around!" Izumo commanded, instantly making the fox shut up. "Go on and chase that ghoul demon away right now!"

 

It didn't take the two fixes long to come back to recover from the slight shock. They turned to face the ghoul who was getting closer and closer to reaching Paku as Shiemi was growing tired, and attacked it. They were growling, biting and scratching it, whilst dodging almost every attack. Izumo saw that it wouldn't take too long until the ghoul would give up and escape, so she looked at Shiemi, and was shocked to see how bad the girl looked.

 

There was sweat running down her face, she was breathing heavily, like she'd just run a short maraton and her eyes were clearly foggy from the exhaustion. Seeing how hard the blonde was working made Izumo feel… something? It was impossible to describe. "Moriyama! You see that wound that looks like a burn on Paku's arm? It has to be treated immediately or it could become fatal!" 

 

"O-oh! Of course, I'll do my best!" Shiemi replied, looking stressed but she still looked like she was determined to help.  _ Burns, what do you use for healing burns..? Right! Sancho-san! _ "Nee-chan, can you help us? Please, this is very important! I need some sancho-san!" 

 

"Nee!" it replied, and the oak that was used to protect Paku shrunk away, and then a smaller leafy plant replaced the tree. Shiemi's expression brightened and she quickly begun to use it to heal Paku's burn. 

 

The ghoul was clearly getting irritated, and in its anger it used most of the possible power it could use to get rid of one of its attackers. It striked at one of the demon foxes, who was sent flying and hit the wall roughly. "Mike!" Izumo yelled, looking worried about her familiar.

 

"I am fine, thy shall not worry about me!" Mike responded, getting up as fast as he could. Showing weakness was not something a respectable demon should do. Mike was about to jump into battle again, but it wasn't necessary anymore. The ghoul screamed in annoyance, and tried to attack Shiemi and the unconscious Paku, but was stopped by multiple bullets piercing its body. 

 

"Mr. Okumura!" Izumo was surprised by the gun shots, but it was only logical that Yukio came to help eventually. He saw Paku, and quickly rushed over to her and Shiemi. "This is bad, she's in critical condition. She'll need the help of multiple doctors…" he said, taking out many kinds of medication from his bag. Shiemi was holding tears, and Yukio noticed this. "Don't feel bad, it looks like her wounds can still be treated, but if you didn't help it's possible the outcome could've been way worse."

 

Those words seemed to bring little comfort, and Yukio was too busy doing his best in healing the girl so he couldn't offer anything else to cheer her up. And Izumo was in pretty rough shape too; now curled up in a ball looking at Paku with tears threatening to spill over, hiding from other's gaze. Uke and Mike had already disappeared.

 

Time passed, maybe it was just seconds, perhaps full minutes, in utter silence. The only source of noise were Yukio handling some bottles of medicine and him calling for help, Shiemi's sniffling that was slowly dying down and Izumo's heavy breathing. 

 

Shiemi glanced at Izumo, and seeing the purple-haired girl's sadness made her feel like it was her responsibility to do her best to help her. So she stood up, wiped the salty tears with the sleeve of her kimono, and went to sit on the floor next to Izumo. 

 

"I-I know this probably won't do anything to give you a peace of mind, but I hope you'll listen to me." Shiemi began, but paused when Izumo gave her an angry glare. 

 

"I don't care, so please just shut the hell up for once…" 

 

Shiemi flinched, but still decided to say her mind. "... it isn't your fault, so please don't blame yourself. You must understand that it was you who was able to keep Paku safe long enough until Yuki arrived. You were really strong, and I can say that since I saw it with my own eyes."

 

"No, didn't you hear what Okumura said?! Paku's in critical condition now, and she wouldn't be if I wasn't a weak bitch! I hesitated for absolutely no reason other than that I can't stand by my words! I'm not a true friend…" The last part of her sentence was nothing more than a whisper so quiet that Shiemi wasn't able to hear it. 

 

"Don't say that! You're an amazing friend, I'm sure of it. Don't blame yourself about it so much. I can't even talk to others without being awkward, and you're so confident! I… I envy you honestly." Shiemi confessed, making Izumo roll her eyes. 

 

"You envy  _ me _ ?" Izumo laughed, though it held no real amusement. "You're dumber than I thought…"

 

Shiemi frowned, giving Izumo a look of worry. She didn't really mind what Izumo had said to offend her, though maybe she just couldn't understand what it meant. "O-of course I envy you! You're pretty, strong, smart, cool, brave, a good person, a good friend-" 

 

"Ugh just shut up! I get the idea, alright?" 

 

"Right!" the blonde straightened up, looking serious all of a sudden. She then relaxed a bit, her eyes becoming warm and caring clouded by a hint of sadness. "If you get the idea, then why do you seem to think so lowly of yourself? I'm not trying to cheer you up by telling lies, I'm just saying the things I know to be true."

 

"But Paku is-" 

 

"Somebody- your friend, who you protected. We don't know what will happen to her for sure, but Yuki said that us being there may have saved her arm, or even her life. We should support her the best we can, and not continue to blame ourselves. That is because," Shiemi said, grabbing both of Izumo's hands gently. "... we're her friends!"

 

Izumo just stared at the shy girl in front of her, unable to find words. "Moriyama-" 

 

"Shiemi, you can call me that, Kamiki-san!" Shiemi said, a small smile finding its way to her lips yet again. "Now, let's get out of here and go to join the others. This cold floor is a bit unpleasant." she said, standing up and pulling Izumo to her feet too.

 

"Let's go Kamiki-san." A complete silence followed, and Shiemi gave Izumo a quizzical look. 

 

"Izumo." the purple-haired girl said, confusing Shiemi.

 

"Eh?" 

 

Izumo's cheeks were starting to become slightly red from embarrassment, but it wasn't too noticeable since her face had lost a lot of its previous color. "Don't make me repeat myself! I said that you can just call me Izumo from now on. It feels weird to be addressed so formally."

 

Shiemi's eyes brightened greatly, and her smile grew wide. "Got it, Izumo-chan!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for not posting in a long time! The last weeks if school were absolutely crazy, and I was writing a lot of stuff for school so I didn't feel like writing even more, and I of course had to consentrate in studying. Now I have free time practically the whole summer, but I still have something that consumes a lot of my time for some days. But I promise it won't take a month to post again lmao.
> 
> Hope you liked this chapter, there will be more of Rin and Amai in the next one. (Yay!)


	7. Upcoming challenges

Rin and Amaimon were heading towards Mephisto's mansion, the place where they would be forced to suffer from the demon king's purposely badly hidden teasing, unnecessarily fancy food and the constant presence of anime body pillows and figurines. It was fair to say that the two weren't feeling too happy.

 

The white mansion could now be seen since they were just a few blocks away from it. Rin could see Amaimon shudder at the sight of it from the corner of his eyes, and he couldn't help but snort at that. That earned him a dirty look from the green-haired demon. "I understand that you don't feel so appalled about meeting Mephisto, but there's no need to be an asshole about it." 

 

"C'mon Amai, aren't you being a bit of a drama queen right now?" Rin said. "Or maybe you're not.." he thought out loud afterwards, putting more thought into his words. 

 

"Tch! Whatever, let's just get over with it, so we can like… uh… buy games and play them, or read manga or some shit." Amaimon said, scratching the back of his neck and frowning deeply.

 

Rin sighed, and slowly shook his head. "Yeah, sure, let's do that…" 

 

A small laugh escaped his friend's mouth, and the blue-haired demon gave him a side eyed glance. "Looks like you don't find our  _ lovely _ dinner so nice after all." Amaimon mocked.

 

"I never said that I like the idea! And still, unlike you, I personally don't hate Mephisto." Seeing the weirded out look Amaimon was giving him, Rin had to clear things up. "I don't like Mephisto and I find him very annoying most of the time, but he's still helped me quite a lot in the past. So I don't  _ hate  _ him."

 

Amaimon didn't look too convinced, and there was clearly something running through his head, which was easy to see from his eyes; whenever he was thinking about something, his eyes became slightly cloudy and unfocused, and he didn't seem to pay much attention to his surroundings. That was one of the things Rin had become to understand about Amaimon.

 

"He's helped you with what? Gimme an example, and if you can't I'll just assume you're lying."

 

"That's not important, and it's nothing you have to know about. Just some minor stuff times ago."

 

Amaimon frowned, and gave Rin a suspicious look. He didn't like it when people didn't let him know things fully, but he got bored so quickly that he never bothered to listen until the end. He was a somewhat complicated person. 

 

Before they even realized they'd already arrived to the mansion. Mephisto's mansion was everything but minimalistic. The garden was filled with pink, purple, white and blue flowers that were planted to certain places, there were multiple bushes that were cut into animal shapes like dogs, birds, horses and even people. The most noticeable decoration was a big golden statue of the king himself. 

 

Rin then drew his attention to the rest of the backyard, and found out that the situation there was way worse. There was a big pool with a small water slide leading to it, but then there was a carousel that you would find in an amusement park, a Ferris wheel and a-

 

_ A goddamn roller coaster?! In someone's backyard?  _ Rin thought, the shock making his jaw drop. Amaimon on the other hand just sighed and shook his head at the sight. 

 

_ When the hell did that thing come here?  _ Rin wondered, unable to take his eyes off the roller coaster. He'd seen pictures of backyard roller coasters, and they were always small and simple, and they usually didn't even need electricity in order to work. You just had to push the train so the ride could start. This one looked like an actual roller coaster though, with loops and everything.

 

"Soo, since when has your brother had a fucking roller coaster on his backyard? It's been a few months since I came here, but I don't recall there being any signs of a miniature amusement park about to be build." Rin asked.

 

"I dunno." the other of the two shrugged. "It's been some time since I last came here too, but I don't remember either. He probably got these things here not too long ago. I wouldn't be surprised, and I doubt you'd be either."

 

Rin was trying to form his thoughts into words, but his brain was already overloaded from school. "Yeah, this is pretty much expected from him, but I just have trouble understanding  _ how. _ And doesn't he already own a good sized amusement park nearby?"

 

"Yeah, I think he does." Amaimon replied, then turning his gaze to the ground muttering under his breath. "What a weirdo."

 

"Hmm, I wonder if we could ride it?" 

 

Amaimon turned to face Rin. "Wouldn't recommend. You'll most likely die knowing Mephisto's tendency of rushing things and making them low quality."

 

"Heh! You know that I wouldn't die even if I fell from the highest point. A human most definitely might, but I'm no human." 

 

Amaimon seemed to think about what he just said, and came to the same conclusion as his friend. He just remained quiet, turning his attention back to the mansion. Rin did so too.

 

The actual building was surprisingly normal for something owned by the king of abnormality himself. The main color scheme was white, and the other colors used were a combination of peachy pink, rose gold and pastel pink, and many of the small details were lavender purple. Rin also noticed the dark gray gargoyles that decorated the space below the roof. They gave the other colorful house a rather intimidating feel, but it suit Mephisto for more reasons than one.

 

"... I guess this is it. There's no running away now, so shall we go?" Amaimon said, giving the pastel colored building a look of disapproval. The cute style definitely wasn't his cup of tea.

 

Before Rin could even reply the two heard a voice yelling for them from a large window in the mansion. "Ah, I see you've come here finally! I am very pleased to see you didn't end up running away~" 

 

"Mephisto! What the hell is up with the damn roller coaster?" Rin yelled, pointing his finger at the said ride. Amaimon had already taken a few cautious steps backwards, and his expression had turned even more sour than before. 

 

The demon king of time and space appeared before the two younger demons with a puff of smoke and glitter, a wide, yet clearly sly smile decorating his pale face. Mephisto was wearing his usual attire: a white shirt and pants, a cape that was both white and purple, brown boots and a top hat. He was also carrying his pink umbrella. 

 

"Well, welcome welcome! I'm quite happy that you accepted my innocent invitation to dine with me and my brother~" Mephisto said. "But I must say that I'm a little disappointed that you didn't even bother dressing up even a little." he continued, his forest green eyes studying Rin's clothing. 

 

"Well I'm sorry that I couldn't care too much about what I look like today. You may be somewhat of a big shot, but it isn't like this dinner is too big or important. Especially since you invited Amai too." Rin replied, rolling his eyes.

 

"Hey!" Amaimon whined.

 

The smile on Mephisto's face was still as wide as ever, but his playful words had a hint of threatening behind them. "Oh, so you're suggesting that a dinner with a demon king is something to take lightly? Haha, how funny you are! But I guess you are right… Still, those clothes of your's are truly tragic, so I'll fix the situation~" 

 

Mephisto snapped his fingers, and smoke identical to the one the demon appeared with  before surrounded Rin for a few seconds. The smoke faded away as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the now different looking Rin in shock. Well, Rin himself hadn't changed one bit, but his clothes were. The usually casually  dressed demon was now wearing clothes somewhat similar to that of Mephisto, though they weren't as over the top. Also the colors were mainly black and silver instead of bright colors.

 

Rin's hair that seemed to be an eternal bed head now looked like someone poured half a bottle of hair gel into it and combed it back. His loose T-shirt was replaced with a black shirt with silver buttons and a silver striped tie. "The fu- what did you do?! I look like a fucking clown now, like you!" 

 

"I made you look miles better! You should be thankful~" 

 

The blue-haired demon was trying to find words so he could complain, but his brain was completely empty so he just ended up flipping Mephisto off.  _ Well, I guess I should be glad that he didn't give me a ridiculous top hat... _

 

Mephisto just hummed in amusement and gave Rin a quick wink, then diverting his gaze from Rin to his own little brother with a smirk. 

 

"Don't even think about it." 

 

Mephisto's and Amaimon's eyes met, and at that very moment the tension in the air grew so much Rin could imagine slicing it with the blade of his sword. While the older of the sibling kept up his cheerful energy, the younger gave him a barely noticeable glare.

 

The few seconds felt more like minutes when Mephisto finally turned around. "Well, our dinner awaits, and I promise the food will greatly exceed your expectations! We have important guests today after all~"

 

"Don't try to flatter me Mephisto, it's so common from you that believing anything you say is impossible." Rin said, crossing hands over his chest. Amaimon huffed next to him. 

 

"I have no idea what you're talking about! I wouldn't do such thing." Mephisto chuckled, whirling the pink and cake decorated umbrella around on his right hand. 

 

The older demon motioned Rin and Amaimon to follow him inside his mansion, whistling to some happy tune, presumably to the opening of an anime. Even though Mephisto could appear as threatening under the facade of , he was still an undeniable otaku. 

 

The two demons remained their distance from Mephisto, who didn't seem to notice this at all.  _ "Where are we?" _ a voice suddenly rang inside their heads, and Rin jumped at surprise, a quiet squeal escaping from him. 

 

"What the-! Oh right, it's just Kuro." Rin said, glancing inside his bag and meeting eyes with the black cat.  _ "Did you forget about me that quickly?" _

 

Rin swallowed, diverting his gaze to the sky. "...No… or, I mean, you were pretty quiet and all, so…" Kuro and Amaimon blinked their eyes at him simultaneously.  _ "I was asleep."  _ Kuro said. 

 

"But hey! Amaimon must have forgotten about you too, since he didn't say anything!" Rin said with a proud expression, pointing at the green-haired demon. The reaction of Amaimon tilting his head to the side whilst raising one eyebrow made Rin's smirk fade. "Of course I remembered, I just thought you did so too but chose to ignore the Sìdhe." 

 

"Ugh! Can we just forget about this whole thing?" Rin asked, squinting his eyes at the two others.  _ "You still didn't answer my question! I want to see where we are!"  _ Kuro whined, beginning to poke his head out of the bag he was inside of. This was interrupted by Rin quickly showing the cat back. Kuro screamed in protest, and the voice was loud in both of their heads.

 

"Hush! Just stay quiet and inside for some more, got it?" 

 

A small moment of silence followed.  _ "I'll try my best, Rin."  _

 

"Good." Rin glanced at Mephisto, the worry that he'd heard or seen what just happened making the pit of his stomach feel heavy. There wasn't any serious reason to why Rin didn't want the demon king to find out about Kuro other than the fact that it might make the dinner last longer. Fortunately it looked like the distance between them was large enough to keep Mephisto from hearing Kuro. 

 

"Brother's garden sure is big. This place would be perfect for sparring, wouldn't it?" Amaimon said to no one in particular. Rin gave a nod, since he very much agreed. Even though the well maintained grass and plants were taking quite a lot of space, a pretty good amount of the garden still remained empty. He couldn't help but wonder if it was actually meant for sparring or fighting.

 

They arrived to the front door, and Rin realized that he'd been wrong when thinking that the mansion looked normal. The pink paint was topped with a full layer of  _ glitter _ , and the glass of the doors was stained glass. There was a white marble statue of a dog, and it's gem eyes felt like they were boring into his very soul. Rin shuddered. He wouldn't be surprised if a demon lived in the statue.

 

"Well, shall we go inside? ☆" Mephisto pushed the door open, so Rin and Amaimon (with the addition of Kuro) stepped inside. Immediately a strong, overly sweet and floral smell hit them. 

 

"Do you enjoy the smell? I bought new scented candles, and desired to put them to a test." Mephisto explained, seeming unaffected by the stench. 

 

"Uh… well it certainly is-" Rin had to cough. "...intense _. _ " Amaimon nodded profusely, frantically looking for candles in the hope of blowing them out, and desirably throwing them out the window for good. 

 

Mephisto lead them to the dining room. It looked exactly like you'd think it would. Excessively large, colorful, fancy and decorated. There was a massive anime poster opposite to the side where Rin and Amaimon were standing. "Please, go ahead and sit down~" 

 

Mephisto sat at the end of the long marble kitchen table. Amaimon sat at the opposite end, as far away from the king as possible. Rin gave him a look, but ended up sitting near Amaimon. 

 

"So, I believe you two must be starving at this point, but no worries! I've prepared something you can't dislike." Mephisto grinned, snapping his fingers. Right away countless of his servants, who were all dresses in classic maid outfits, stormed in carrying plates and trays filled with food. Before Rin could even comprehend what was happening, the food was already laid out on the table.

 

"Thank you, you're dismissed." Mephisto said shooing the servants away, who bowed before heading out. 

 

"Now, go ahead and eat as much as you like! My chef has been preparing this feast for us for hours, and I can guarantee it's delicious~" 

 

Whilst Amaimon, who grew up eating fancy foods didn't look surprised at the amount of food, Rin was still baffled by it. Though as a child he'd been taken care of by Satan's servants who were hired for that exact reason, Rin left home when he was still young. His father had reserved quite a lot of money to raising him, but for some reason very little for Rin himself. That's the reason he lives in a small house that's in pretty bad condition. It's not like he's poor per se, he just doesn't have as much money as people expect him to.

 

Rin had to rise up from his seat to see the food fully. There was japanese food like sushi, ramen and sukiyaki, chinese food like chow mein and dim sum, italian food like pasta alla carbonara, spaghetti bolognese and pizza, french food like ratatouille, onion soup and cassoulet and much more, some of which Rin had never seen before.

 

Mephisto was the first one to begin eating, so Rin decided to follow, taking a little bit of the dishes he found the most appetizing. He glanced at Amaimon's plate, and saw that he'd taken just some french fries, pizza and a little piece of beef. "Jeez, why do you have to be so boring?" Amaimon just blinked at him with a fry already dangling from his mouth, so Rin just rolled his eyes and started eating. 

 

The dinner continued pretty normally with the three chatting about casual stuff, and eventually the servants came back to take the leftovers away, bringing dessert to them afterwards. As expected, there was ice cream, cakes, cookies, candy, macarons, Panna cotta and a bunch of others. 

 

When all three had taken dessert (with Rin trying to tell Amaimon that eating a small mountain of sweets was unhealthy), Mephisto cleared his throat, catching the attention of the two friends. 

 

"I believe you thought this dinner had no actual purpose other than entertainment, am I correct? ☆ However, I have something to discuss with you two, something that concerns all three of us. The upcoming election for the new demon kings." Rin noticed that while Mephisto kept his smile, the playful look in his eyes turned serious. The change in the atmosphere was clear.

 

The current king continued. "First, I'd like to hear what you think of it." Rin glanced at Amaimon, who nodded and whispered to Rin to go first. "I don't know what to think. Honestly, I couldn't care less about the election." 

 

"I expected so. But like you probably already know, you being Satan's child means it's practically your fate to be a king. Want it or not~" 

 

Amaimon frowned, giving his brother an irritated look. Their eyes met, and Rin couldn't help but think about how similar the siblings looked. There was no doubt that the two were related, even though Mephisto looked like a human in their 30s, and Amaimon looked like a teen like Rin. 

 

"You too have to participate dear Amaimon! As my brother you must."

 

"But I don't want to… I have to, right? Since you're gonna force me…" Amaimon mumbled, and Mephisto just smiled as a response.

 

"So, do you know what the election will be like?" Mephisto asked. "Uhh, I've heard a little bit about it, that it's closer to a competition than a election humans do or something like that." Rin replied. That gave him a little hope that the election could be entertaining.

 

"Yes, that is correct. The election honors the classic values of demons, thus it differs from the thing humans call an "election" to a great extent. There still are some similarities, but they were forced to exist by the humans, who after over two centuries can't understand the differences in the ways we demons act and do things." Mephisto explained, making both Rin and Amaimon tch. 

 

"Of course. Everybody knows that humans are all close-minded assholes, who can't get off their high horse." Rin groaned, earning a chuckle from Mephisto. 

 

After the war between demons and humans, the Holy War as humans named it, humans tried to rule over demons the same way they ruled their own people. It took a few decades for humans to realize that it is impossible for a human to lead demons without it leading to complete chaos, so they allowed a demon to rule demons. However, the same way humans choose leaders with, by voting, doesn't work for demons. For this reason the demon king election was created, so the kings would be chosen in a way that was familiar to demons. For some reason humans weren't consent with the same demons ruling for decades, even centuries, so the election is held every 10 years. They set a series of other rules too.

 

"As I'm the only one of the kings who knows you, well, except for Satan, but I've heard he isn't around too much, I must educate you about what the election will be, so your chance of succeeding will be far greater." 

 

Satan "not being around too much" was an understatement. The fact that Rin has met his father once in his whole life, and that being as a child so he doesn't really remember what he looked like tells a lot. Rin was pretty much like any demon you'd see, though he was the only along Satan to possess the blue flames. Him being royalty didn't change him one bit.

 

"You see, the election usually lasts around one month, during which there aren't any demon kings other than Satan. The demon kings usually participate again, and since they've won the election before they are the most challenging to beat." 

 

Rin frowned, pointing a finger at Mephisto. "But doesn't that mean you'll be our enemy? Why the hell are you helping us?" 

 

"I'm pretty confident in my abilities and my chances of winning, and since Amaimon is my brother and you're his close friend, I believe it's my responsibility to assist you two~" Mephisto chuckled. 

 

Rin couldn't bring himself to not feel suspicious knowing Mephisto, so he glanced at Amaimon who just shrugged. "Whatever, you're still a shady bastard so don't think I'll repay you or anything!" 

 

"Oh, but using your logic that you can't trust me since you'll be competing against me means you won't be able to trust Amaimon either, since he'll be your enemy too! Don't you think you're just biased? It's very clear you dislike me, but clearly like my brother and enjoy spending time with him~" 

 

" _ That's _ a flawed logic if anything!" Rin huffed. "Why would I like someone just because they're related to a friend of mine?" 

 

"Phwyeahh!" Amaimon said, but his mouth was so stuffed with dessert so he just ended up choking out one word. Rin laughed at him, and it looked like Amaimon was struggling to swallow his food. After a short moment of chewing he finally regained his ability to talk normally. "Oi, why the hell are you talking about me when I'm literally sitting right here? Rude."

 

"Eh? What do you think I'm supposed to talk about? Also, just so you know, Mephisto brought both of us here, so don't blame me!" 

 

"Huh? Didn't your parents teach you that talking about somebody behind their back is rude? Jeez!" 

 

"Fucking hell Amai! You know damn well my dad's an asshole, and the last time I checked you don't have parents either! And I'm pretty sure that thing didn't teach you shit about manners!" Rin foamed, pointing a finger at Mephisto.

"Oi, I've got a name y'know!" Mephisto grumbled, but the two others just ignored him. A wide smile crept on Mephisto's lips when he looked at the younger demons. From an outside perspective it may seem like Rin and Amaimon were quarreling seriously, but some could see that neither had any bad intention. It was just their way of friendship in a way. Mephisto felt pleased seeing how close the two had gotten in a spawn of a couple years. 

 

The demon king cleared his throat so he could catch the attention of the two, and they went silent. "Now now, no need to fight. I wish to finally tell you two about the election."

 

"Please do, but do it quick…" Amaimon muttered.

 

"Unlike humans do, demons don't actually vote. Whilst many have their favorite candidate they support, most follow how the election goes because it qualifies as entertainment, and they are just seeking for something fun. The election isn't too political. Well, there is a voting in the beginning of it all, but the idea of it is to get rid of uninteresting demons, since very many wish to become a king. That is known as the first phase. I would suggest to make yourself known, so you'll stand a chance of getting through it." 

 

"So if we're not interesting enough, we won't pass the first phase? That… makes a bit of sense actually. All of the current kings are abnormal in a way or another." Rin thought out loud. 

 

Mephisto laughed a little. "That could be taken as offensive~ Anyway, I believe you’ll get through the first phase without even trying, since you're kind of a celebrity among demons even though very few know your face. It's already expected that more will be following the election because you, Satan's son, will be taking part. Amaimon on the other hand…" Mephisto explained, then turning to look at his younger brother with a thoughtful expression. 

 

"You might have to do something for the first phase. Perhaps not as much as others, since you're my brother, and thanks to your prominent looks too. Still, I'll help you and have you back~!"

 

Amaimon wrinkled his nose to show his dissatisfaction at the idea. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll be fine by myself."

 

"Whatever you say~" Mephisto chuckled. "I should continue, shouldn't I? About the phases… hmm… there are three or four of them, and each one is different. They usually consist of things like fighting skill, cooperation and testing of durability. The election can be very dangerous. At the end the new eight demon kings will be selected."

 

"But how is that even possible? I thought demon kings have abilities that normal demons don't have? That make them much stronger than others?" Rin asked. 

 

"You are correct! However, some demons have the potential of being a true king, and the idea of the election is to find those who have that potential. When you become a demon king officially, you'll get the abilities to yourself, and you'll carry them with you forever. Some have some of the abilities kings have already, like you have regeneration and enhanced strength." 

 

Rin stretched his arms and yawned. "Oh, cool." 

 

Mephisto hummed in amusement seeing how casual Rin was even though he just heard some important news. "Well, is there anything else you want to ask~?"

 

Amaimon raised his gaze from his empty plate. "Can we leave now?"

 

"Hmm, sure, go ahead. But wouldn't you enjoy spending a little bit more time with me?~~" 

 

Rin and Amaimon didn't say anything, they just got up from their seats, took their bags and headed out the door. 

 

The two walked in comfortable silence for a while, when Rin finally decided to ask what was on his mind. "Amai, why do you hate your brother so much? I mean, I know you've never been too friendly with each other, but now you seem to despise him. You act more like rivals than siblings. What happened between you guys?" 

 

Amaimon seemed to be thinking of an answer. "Stuff just happened. It's nothing important enough to bother you with it, so relax. So what do you want to do now? I'm bored, and I want to hang out with you more." 

 

"Ehh, I dunno. We could go and steal- I mean buy a new manga series to read together." Rin suggested. 

 

"Yeah, sounds good. So what are you gonna do with the cat now?" Amaimon pointed at Rin's bag. 

 

_ "What do you mean? I'll live with Rin from now on!"  _ a voice rang inside their heads, and a familiar cat Sídhe looked out of the bag. 

 

"What? Are you sure? My place is pretty depressing looking, and no place for a cat to live. You'd like it better somewhere else." Rin tried to explain, but it seemed the Sídhe had made up its mind. 

 

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you. Let's go Amai."   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't I say last time that it won't take too long to update? Well fuck, look what happened. I've been surprisingly busy, and I didn't even realize how much time passed. This chapter is more like info about the whole election thing, and I just wanted to clear things up about it. 
> 
> I've been thinking about writing a fic about Hunter x Hunter at some point, but I have so many ideas that I don't know which one I should write! 
> 
> I've decided to use my free time writing, so I won't waste my whole vacation on watching anime and playing games. I started watching Neon genesis evangelion, and I'm really liking it so far. 
> 
> Anyways, hope this chapter wasn't too boring, but more stuff will happen in the next one, so I'm really wanting to write it.

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my native language, so there may be some mistakes, and I'm sorry for that. Also fun fact: Ala and Seir are actual demons, and I'll probably use real demons as my source for some of the characters. I doubt anyone will read this, but I'm only doing this for fun so~  
> Also I plan to make chapters longer than this one, I'll try to make them at least 3000 words long


End file.
